VLSI KoreaFabless Senior Pay: Only 3 Companies Pay Above $300K
Only three fabless companies pay Senior engineers above $300K in the US: Apple $366K, Broadcom $335K, NVIDIA $324K. Senior Software and Hardware rankings plus NVIDIA's SW vs HW gap, from Levels.fyi medians.
The Conclusion First
- Only three fabless companies pay a Senior engineer above $300K in the US. On the Software track: Apple ICT4 at $366K, Broadcom ICB3 at $335K, and NVIDIA IC3 at $324K (Levels.fyi, US, median, accessed 2026-10-21).
- The drop to #4 is steep. Qualcomm Senior Software is $212K — $112K behind #3 NVIDIA.
- Same title, different risk. Stock is 50% of Broadcom Senior Software pay ($166K of $335K). At Qualcomm it is 19% ($40.6K).
- Hardware follows a similar order. Apple $350K, NVIDIA $263K, Broadcom $218K, Qualcomm $207K, AMD $183K.
- At NVIDIA, Software pays 23.2% more than Hardware at Senior. $324K vs $263K, and the gap is driven by stock, not base.
Figure: Senior Software Engineer median total compensation, US. Source: Levels.fyi, accessed 2026-10-21.
Senior Software Ranking
This ranking compares each company's own level labelled "Senior." Level names and bands are company-native — that is the stated method. To keep different career rungs out of one ranking, the level positions are published first. Every entry in the rankings below is the Senior rung from this table; Staff-rung values are never mixed in.
Level Mapping (Levels.fyi labels; totals shown as Software / Hardware)
| Standard rung | Apple | Broadcom | NVIDIA | Qualcomm | AMD | Marvell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | ICT2 Junior — $180K / $183K | ICB1 — $149K / no data (first Hardware level shown is ICB2 at $169K) | IC1 — $184K / $163K | Associate — $137K / $185K * | L5 Eng II — $159K / $142K | T1 — $148K / $111K |
| Senior (the ranked rung) | ICT4 Senior — $366K / $350K | ICB3 Senior — $335K / $218K | IC3 Senior — $324K / $263K | Senior — $212K / $207K | L6 Senior — $188K / $183K | T2 Senior — $151K / $149K |
| Staff (next rung up, not ranked) | ICT5 — not labelled on the page ($598K / $490K) | ICB4 Staff — $488K / $428K | IC4 — $379K / $328K | Staff — $278K / $272K | L7 MTS $244K / $248K; L8 Senior MTS $326K / $258K | T3 Staff — $184K / $207K |
*Qualcomm Hardware Associate at $185K sits above its next level (Engineer, $172K) — a sample anomaly, reproduced as recorded in the data. Apple ICT5 carries no "Staff" label on its Levels.fyi page, so this article builds no Staff ranking and lists ICT5 only as the rung above Senior in this table.
| Rank | Company / Level | Total | Base | Stock | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple ICT4 Senior | $366K | $215K | $129K | $21.9K |
| 2 | Broadcom ICB3 Senior | $335K | $149K | $166K | $20.7K |
| 3 | NVIDIA IC3 Senior | $324K | $206K | $109K | $8.6K |
| 4 | Qualcomm Senior | $212K | $156K | $40.6K | $14.9K |
| 5 | AMD L6 Senior | $188K | $143K | $35.5K | $9.7K |
| 6 | Marvell T2 Senior * | $151K | $127K | $14.1K | $9.2K |
*Marvell Software rests on 144 submissions in total — the thinnest sample here. Its Senior figure ($151K) sits almost on top of its Entry figure ($148K), which reads as sample noise, not a market fact. Treat it as a footnote, not a headline.
The pattern is simple. The top three separate themselves on stock, not base. Broadcom's base ($149K) is below Apple's ($215K) and NVIDIA's ($206K), but $166K of stock lifts it to #2 — a structure where felt pay moves with the share price.
Senior Hardware Ranking
Figure: Senior Hardware Engineer median total compensation, US. Source: Levels.fyi, accessed 2026-10-21.
| Rank | Company / Level | Total | Base | Stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple ICT4 Senior | $350K | $207K | $121K |
| 2 | NVIDIA IC3 Senior | $263K | $186K | $73K |
| 3 | Broadcom ICB3 Senior | $218K | $133K | $64.6K |
| 4 | Qualcomm Senior | $207K | $152K | $40.1K |
| 5 | AMD L6 Senior | $183K | $145K | $27.8K |
| 6 | Marvell T2 Senior | $149K | $124K | $14.7K |
On Hardware, only Apple clears $300K at Senior. The band for the same title changes by track inside the same company.
NVIDIA: Software vs Hardware
Figure: NVIDIA Software vs Hardware pay, US. Source: Levels.fyi, accessed 2026-10-21.
- Senior (IC3): Software $324K, Hardware $263K — a $61K gap, +23.2%.
- Overall median: Software $312K, Hardware $280K — a $32K gap, +11.4%.
- The Senior gap is an equity gap. Base differs by $20K ($206K vs $186K); stock differs by $36K ($109K vs $73K).
- Samples are large on both sides: 2,353 Software and 1,134 Hardware submissions.
At NVIDIA, the track gap at Senior is less about salary bands and more about how equity is allocated.
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FAQ
Q1. Which fabless company pays Senior engineers the most? Apple, on both tracks: Senior Software ICT4 at $366K and Senior Hardware ICT4 at $350K in the US (Levels.fyi medians, accessed 2026-10-21). These are all-Apple figures, not Apple Silicon only.
Q2. How many fabless companies pay Seniors above $300K? Three on the Software track: Apple $366K, Broadcom $335K, and NVIDIA $324K. On the Hardware track, only Apple at $350K is above $300K.
Q3. How much of Broadcom Senior pay is stock? Broadcom Senior Software (ICB3) total compensation is $335K, of which $166K is stock, about 50%. Base salary is $149K.
Q4. What is the NVIDIA Software vs Hardware Senior pay gap? At Senior (IC3), NVIDIA Software is $324K and Hardware is $263K, a $61K gap of 23.2%. Stock is $109K versus $73K.
Limitations: Levels.fyi figures are US, self-reported, level medians, and each company's "Senior" label means a different band. Apple figures cover all of Apple, not Apple Silicon only. Broadcom's overall medians are a senior-skewed sample artefact and are not used here. Marvell Software rests on 144 submissions. As of: 2026-10-21.
In your track, which band feels higher — Software or Hardware?
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