`Product companies are best pay masters`

The electronic design automation (EDA) companies are the best paymasters and are followed by the analog design firms in the semiconductor space.

On an average, EDA professionals receive about 32 per cent higher salaries over other domains. The salaries increased by 34 per cent as the industry professionals progressed through the various levels, according to CareerNet, a recruitment services firm.

CareerNet chief executive officer Rishi Das said the robust growth of the semiconductor and embedded design services industry in India has resulted in a strong demand for talent and is attracting fresh engineering graduates into the field.

The company released a report ‘Compensation trends in semiconductor and embedded design industry’, which involved about 300 industry professionals representing companies from startups to established global ones.

On an average, the salaries at product companies were about 32 per cent higher than their services counterparts. The industry currently employs 130,000 engineering professionals in design, verification and validation and other areas.

About 82 per cent of the total workforce employed by the Indian semiconductor sector works in the embedded software space, generating about 81 per cent revenues, the report said, adding the difference in entry level salaries was 36 per cent more than the services companies. Architects and managers in this sector commanded 20 to 25 per cent higher salaries.

It pointed out that compensation for professionals with experience up to 3 years was Rs 6.35 lakh in the industry but it was Rs 7.73 lakh in the EDA and Rs 7.33 lakh for analog design.

Compensation for professionals in the 5 to 7 years experience band was 53 per cent higher than those in lower experience band. This is in line with the industry trend where the percentage increase is the highest in this experience band.

On methodology and scope of the study, Rishi said it did not take into consideration the exceptional compensation packages offered from time to time or the assembling of a core team for a new initiative.

Also, executive and expatriate salaries were not in the scope of the study, which did not follow the salary per year of experience pattern.

The study was limited to VLSI and embedded designing and did not include hardware manufacturing industry.