# Computer Hardware Engineers

US SOC code 17-2061. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/17-2061

Also called: ASIC engineer, ASIC design engineer, Chip design engineer, VLSI engineer, VLSI design engineer.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **76,660** US computer hardware engineers, with median pay of **$161,740** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was **82,660**, in May 2023. The last full technology era for computer hardware engineers: Custom AI accelerator silicon, 2015 to 2022. The custom silicon boom at hyperscalers was a major driver of the employment recovery from the 2014 trough.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 9.1% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=17-2061&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **31.8%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)
- **0.22** estimated probability that the whole occupation could be computerised, over an unspecified number of years. Not a forecast of job losses. [Frey and Osborne, 2013](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf)

### Since the 2013 prediction

In 2013, Frey and Osborne put this job's probability of computerisation at 0.22. BLS counted **77,670** of these jobs in May 2013 and **76,660** in May 2025 (-1%, a change derived by Future History).

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Computer Hardware Engineers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1946
- Latest US employment: 76,660 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [2]
- Latest US median pay: $161,740 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [4]
- Outlook: +9.1% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [21]

### All 24 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1999 | 60,420 | $64,730 | BLS OEWS 1999 [1] |
| 2003 | 72,550 | $75,980 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [2] |
| 2004 | 74,760 | $81,150 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [2] |
| 2005 | 78,580 | $84,420 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [2] |
| 2006 | 74,480 | $88,470 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [2] |
| 2007 | 79,330 | $91,860 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [2] |
| 2008 | 73,370 | $97,400 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [2] |
| 2009 | 65,410 | $98,820 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [2] |
| 2010 | 66,960 | $98,810 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [2] |
| 2011 | 71,990 | $98,610 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [2] |
| 2012 | 79,580 | $100,920 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [2] |
| 2013 | 77,670 | $104,250 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [2] |
| 2014 | 76,360 | $108,430 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [2] |
| 2015 | 75,870 | $111,730 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [2] |
| 2016 | 72,950 | $115,080 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [2] |
| 2017 | 66,770 | $115,120 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [2] |
| 2018 | 60,750 | $114,600 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [2] |
| 2019 | 67,880 | $117,220 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [2] |
| 2020 | 64,710 | $119,560 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [2] |
| 2021 | 73,750 | $128,170 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [2] |
| 2022 | 74,640 | $132,360 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [2] |
| 2023 | 82,660 | $138,080 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [2] |
| 2024 | 75,710 | $155,020 | BLS OEWS May 2024 (employment) [2]; BLS OEWS May 2024 (pay) [5] |
| 2025 | 76,660 | $161,740 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [2] |

## Sources (88)

### Employment series

1. [BLS OES 1999 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes99nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
2. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

3. [BLS OES 1999 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes99nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
4. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
5. [BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/2024/may/oes172061.htm), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

6. [ENIAC at Penn Engineering — history of ENIAC design and construction (1943-1946)](https://www.engineering.upenn.edu/about/history-heritage/eniac/), University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering
7. [Computer History Museum — "Computers" timeline (1940s-1960s vacuum tube era)](https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/), Computer History Museum
8. [Computer History Museum Silicon Engine — "All Semiconductor Solid Circuit Is Demonstrated" (1958, Jack Kilby produces a microcircuit with both active and passive components fabricated from semiconductor material)](https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/all-semiconductor-solid-circuit-is-demonstrated/), Computer History Museum
9. [Wikipedia — Integrated circuit (history, SSI/MSI/LSI generations)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit), Wikipedia
10. [Computer History Museum — Silicon Engine: "Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip" (1971, Intel 4004)](https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/), Computer History Museum
11. [Wikipedia — Very-large-scale integration (VLSI history, transistor count per chip)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very-large-scale_integration), Wikipedia
12. [EE Journal — "A Brief and Personal History of EDA, Part 4: Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor Graphics"](https://www.eejournal.com/article/a-brief-and-personal-history-of-eda-part-4-cadence-synopsys-and-mentor-graphics-the-eda-era/), EE Journal
13. [Novedge Design Software History — "Electronic Design Automation: A Comprehensive History"](https://novedge.com/blogs/design-news/design-software-history-pioneering-the-future-a-comprehensive-history-of-electronic-design-automation-eda), Novedge
14. [Wikipedia — SystemVerilog (IEEE 1800, 2005 standard)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SystemVerilog), Wikipedia
15. [Semiconductor Engineering — Functional Verification knowledge center (EDA evolution, SystemVerilog, UVM, constrained-random simulation, and AI-aided verification)](https://semiengineering.com/knowledge_centers/eda-design/verification/functional-verification/), Semiconductor Engineering
16. [Google Research — "In-Datacenter Performance Analysis of a Tensor Processing Unit" (ISCA 2017, TPU v1)](https://research.google/pubs/in-datacenter-performance-analysis-of-a-tensor-processing-unit/), Google Research
17. [SIA — "Chipping Away: Assessing and Addressing the Labor Market Gap Facing the U.S. Semiconductor Industry" (projects 67,000 unfilled semiconductor jobs by 2030, with Oxford Economics)](https://www.semiconductors.org/chipping-away-assessing-and-addressing-the-labor-market-gap-facing-the-u-s-semiconductor-industry/), Semiconductor Industry Association
18. [Cadence — Cerebrus AI Studio (5-10x delivery speedup, 20% PPA improvement)](https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/digital-design-and-signoff/soc-implementation-and-floorplanning/cadence-cerebrus-ai-studio.html), Cadence Design Systems
19. [CHIPS and Science Act — Wikipedia (overview of $52.7B federal investment, August 2022)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act), Wikipedia
20. [NVIDIA Research — ChipNeMo: Domain-Adapted LLMs for Chip Design (2023)](https://research.nvidia.com/publication/2023-10_chipnemo-domain-adapted-llms-chip-design), NVIDIA Research

### Forecasts and exposure studies

21. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 17-2061 Computer hardware engineers (2025: 76.1 thousand; 2035: 83.0 thousand; +9.1%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=17-2061&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
22. [Frey & Osborne (2013), "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?", Appendix (SOC 17-2061 Computer Hardware Engineers: probability 0.22, rank 214 of 702)](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
23. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 17-2061.00, human-rated β 0.318)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

24. [University of Pennsylvania — ENIAC: The First General-Purpose Electronic Computer (history and specifications)](https://www.engineering.upenn.edu/about/history-heritage/eniac/), University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering
25. [Computer History Museum Silicon Engine — "All Semiconductor Solid Circuit Is Demonstrated" (1958, Jack Kilby produces a microcircuit with both active and passive components fabricated from semiconductor material)](https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/all-semiconductor-solid-circuit-is-demonstrated/), Computer History Museum
26. [Computer History Museum Silicon Engine — "Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip" (1971, Intel 4004)](https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/), Computer History Museum
27. [Computer History Museum — "Computers" timeline entry: Apple Macintosh (1984)](https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/), Computer History Museum
28. [employamerica.org — "A Brief History of Semiconductors: How the US Cut Costs and Lost the Leading Edge" (domestic workforce decline from 2000 peak)](https://www.employamerica.org/industrial-policy-and-investment/a-brief-history-of-semiconductors-how-the-us-cut-costs-and-lost-the-leading-edge/), Employ America
29. [Google Research — "In-Datacenter Performance Analysis of a Tensor Processing Unit" (ISCA 2017; TPU v1 in production since 2015)](https://research.google/pubs/in-datacenter-performance-analysis-of-a-tensor-processing-unit/), Google Research
30. [CHIPS and Science Act — Wikipedia (signed August 9, 2022; $52.7B federal investment)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIPS_and_Science_Act), Wikipedia

### Predecessors & successors

31. [Computer History Museum — timeline of computing hardware (EE-to-computer-engineer transition, 1950s)](https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/), Computer History Museum
32. [ENIAC at Penn Engineering — design team background (physicists and mathematicians as first computer builders)](https://www.engineering.upenn.edu/about/history-heritage/eniac/), University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — Computer Hardware Engineers (17-2061.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/17-2061.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Computer Hardware Engineers (2024–2034)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/computer-hardware-engineers.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [SIA — 2024 State of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry: 67,000 additional workers projected needed by 2030 (2023 SIA-Oxford Economics study)](https://www.semiconductors.org/2024-state-of-the-u-s-semiconductor-industry/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [NVIDIA Research — ChipNeMo: Domain-Adapted LLMs for Chip Design (2023)](https://research.nvidia.com/publication/2023-10_chipnemo-domain-adapted-llms-chip-design), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Cadence — Cerebrus AI Studio (5–10x delivery speedup, 20% PPA improvement)](https://www.cadence.com/en_US/home/tools/digital-design-and-signoff/soc-implementation-and-floorplanning/cadence-cerebrus-ai-studio.html), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Synopsys — DSO.ai Autonomous AI application for chip design (\>3x designer productivity, 15% power reduction)](https://www.synopsys.com/ai/ai-powered-eda/dso-ai.html), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Siemens — Fuse EDA AI Agent launch at NVIDIA GTC 2026 (March 2026, end-to-end RTL-to-GDSII orchestration)](https://news.siemens.com/en-us/siemens-fuse-eda-ai-agent/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Semiconductor Engineering — AI Growing Impact on Chip Design and EDA Tools (EDA AI adoption coverage)](https://semiengineering.com/ai-growing-impact-on-chip-design-and-eda-tools/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Bloomberg Intelligence — AI could add $6 billion to EDA market through 2030 (15–20%+ CAGR)](https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/insights/artificial-intelligence/ai-could-add-6-billion-to-electronic-design-automation-market/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [GitHub — Copilot product page: AI-powered developer platform including HDL and Verilog/VHDL support](https://github.com/features/copilot), accessed 2026-06-21
- [AWS Partner Blog — Synopsys DSO.ai: \>3x designer productivity, 15% power reduction](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/boost-chip-design-with-ai-how-synopsys-dso-ai-on-aws-delivers-lower-power-and-faster-time-to-market/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Synopsys — VC Formal AI-powered formal verification (2025 product update)](https://www.synopsys.com/verification/static-and-formal-verification/vc-formal.html), accessed 2026-05-23

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.