Based on anecdotal evidence (interactions with people at MOSIS, Qualcomm engineers, etc.), $140k is quite a bit more than you'd get for 5 years experience, even

Based on anecdotal evidence (interactions with people at MOSIS, Qualcomm engineers, etc.), $140k is quite a bit more than you'd get for 5 years experience, even for a high COL area like Southern California. It's an industry that's got the emotional appeal of gaming due to its cutting edge and impactful nature but the monopolistic economics of telecom due to the investments required, so you either work for the salaries they dictate or you go find another career. The same is largely true for electrical engineers and firmware developers in general. On the other hand, anyone with enough experience in any of those fields can go off as a consultant and make absolute bank - mid to upper six figures relatively easily. The utility of experience grows superlinearly because the risks and capital involved in each project are so large. Someone with 20 years experience who has seen 5+ successful projects is easily worth 5 to 10x someone with only a few years.