Japan chip equipment makers' average pay hits 10.75 million yen

Average salaries at eight major Japanese semiconductor equipment and materials companies reached 10.75 million yen (about 91.2 million won) for the fiscal year ending March 2026, a 25% increase compared with 2021, according to securities reports disclosed on October 12 and reported by etnews.com.

The four equipment makers in the group — Disco, Tokyo Electron, Advantest and Screen Holdings — posted an average salary of 13.59 million yen (about 115.2 million won). Disco's headquarters average salary rose 95% from five years earlier to 18.79 million yen (about 159.3 million won), the highest among the eight.

Tokyo Electron's average salary was 13.8 million yen (about 117 million won), up 17% over the same period, while Screen Holdings rose 31% to 10.8 million yen (about 91.6 million won) and Advantest increased 12% to 10.97 million yen (about 93 million won).

Among materials makers, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo's average salary rose 21% to 9.72 million yen (about 82.4 million won) and Rohm's rose 13% to 8.03 million yen (about 68.1 million won). Two companies declined: Renesas fell 5% to 7.49 million yen (about 63.5 million won), and SUMCO dropped 1% to 6.41 million yen (about 54.4 million won), the lowest of the eight.

The figures come as Disco reported revenue of 436.9 billion yen and net profit of 135.5 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2026, a sixth consecutive record high, with operating profit of 185 billion yen and an operating margin of 42.3%.

Background

In 2021, average salaries at Japanese listed companies were in the 6 million yen range (about 50.88 million won). Tokyo Electron's average salary had already reached around 14 million yen (about 118.7 million won) in 2021-2022 before falling during an inventory adjustment period and recovering gradually through last year's AI boom.