Is Biden right that you don’t need a college degree to make $110,000 in the semiconductor field?

In an effort to promote the U.S. semiconductor industry, President Joe Biden has often described it as a high-paying field.

During an April 8 speech at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin, he attached a dollar figure to it.

"Know what the average salary is?" Biden said. "$110,000. You don't need a college degree."

Amid a global semiconductor shortage, Biden in 2022 signed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act to help spur production and make the U.S. more competitive with China. In recent years, China’s government has stepped up its own support of the semiconductors industry, making it the U.S.’ chief rival in this area. 

Semiconductors, sometimes referred to as integrated circuits or microchips, are "the brains of modern electronics," the Semiconductor Industry Association says, and found in laptops, cellphones, smartwatches and tablets. They are often made from silicon and are used in medical devices, computing, defense, transportation, clean energy, artificial intelligence and advanced wireless networks, the association says.  

But Biden’s take on the industry’s salary and the level of educational attainment is inaccurate. Data shows that those with no college degree typically earn less than $110,000 in the semiconductors field.

The industry in 2020 employed about 277,000 people in 49 states in design, manufacture, testing and research and development roles, according to a 2021 report by the Semiconductor Industry Association and Oxford Economics. The report described the average industry salary as around $170,000, based on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

We asked the White House for more information about the figure Biden cited but received no response. Biden has made similar statements before. In his 2023 State of the Union address, speaking specifically about Intel Corp. He said its new Columbus, Ohio, factory would create jobs that pay an average of $130,000 a year, many of which do not require a college degree. When Time asked Biden’s team about that figure, a senior administration official said it came from an "aggregate" of all jobs in the industry, ranging from those that require training certificates to those that require two- or four-year degrees. 

Gary Burtless, a senior fellow and economist at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank, said he could not speak to whether the $110,000 figure Biden used was accurate but said it’s possible it includes all associated temporary construction jobs. The 2021 semiconductor industry report said federal funding was expected to spur the creation of about 6,200 temporary construction jobs over five years. Median annual income for construction jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, starts at about $45,890 for laborers and goes up to $103,310 for managers.

The industry and Oxford analysis found that about 20% of people employed in the semiconductor industry have not attended college, 15% have some college experience, 9% have an associate degree and 56% have a bachelor’s or graduate degree. 

And although the report said that "workers consistently earn more than the U.S. average at all education attainment levels," the report indicates that to earn the amount Biden claims, workers need an undergraduate or graduate degree.

The report outlined the maximum a worker could earn based on education level. 

Across all semiconductor industry jobs, people with a high school education or less could expect to earn a bit more than $40,000 a year on average. Employees with "some" college could earn up to $60,000 a year, and those with an associate degree could earn up to $70,000.

To achieve the $110,000 or higher that Biden described, employees need undergraduate or graduate degrees, the report said. People with undergraduate degrees can expect to make up to $120,000 and those with graduate degrees up to $160,000.

That said, the report also noted that, even when accounting for educational attainment, people make more money in the semiconductor field than in other fields. 

We also looked at the salaries listed in 2024 industry job postings. We found that a college degree is typically required for a salary in the $110,000 range. A few of the job postings we found as of April 12 are:

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• Micron Technology: This Boise, Idaho-headquartered producer of computer memory and computer data storage on April 12 had an open position for an associate general counsel for trade compliance that requires a juris doctor, or law degree, and five to 10 years of experience. The salary range is $146,000 to $274,000.

Micron Technology also advertised for a principal interface design engineer, which requires at least a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and 10 years of experience. The salary range was $165,000 to $280,000.

• Qualcomm: A San Diego-based semiconductor company, Qualcomm had an open position for a senior administrative assistant that doesn’t necessarily require a degree, and it pays between $25.06 and $37.58 an hour. This would mean a maximum salary of about $78,000 a year if working 40 hours a week.

• GlobalFoundries: Headquartered in Malta, New York, GlobalFoundries advertised for an administrative assistant position that required at least a high school diploma or equivalent. The pay was listed at $31.99 per hour to $47.99 per hour. That would make the maximum annual salary around $100,000 if the hours were full-time.  

An open executive administrator position with an expected salary of $46,100 to $82,300. said it required "higher education or specialized training or certification."

The company was also looking for an associate technician in its apprenticeship program. The post carried an expected salary of $31,300 to $54,000, and applicants must have "a high school education or equivalent" or a "high school tech center education."

• Intel Corp.: Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Intel in 2022 announced an investment of $20 billion in Ohio to build two new plants, for which it anticipated an average annual salary of $135,000. But this figure included all jobs, including those that require no college degree to those that require advanced degrees.

PolitiFact reached out to Micron, Qualcomm, GlobalFoundries and Intel but received no replies. 

Biden said the "average salary" for semiconductor industry jobs is "$110,000. You don't need a college degree."

A 2021 report said the average industry salary is around $170,000. But other data in that same analysis showed that people who have less than a bachelor’s degree were unlikely to make more than $70,000. 

People with no more than a high school diploma can expect to earn a bit more than $40,000 per year. People with "some" college could earn up to $60,000 a year, and those with an associate degree could increase that to $70,000. 

The statement contains an element of truth — the average salary in the field is even higher than he said — but it ignores critical facts about the educational attainment needed to reach that level of pay. We rate it Mostly False.