Provided is a semiconductor device including: a memory cell having a variable resistance device; and a control unit that controls a voltage applied to the memory cell, wherein the variable resistance device includes a lower electrode contains a first metal material, an upper electrode containing a second metal material, and an insulating film containing oxygen, the first metal material has a normalized oxide formation energy higher than that of the second metal material, and the control unit applies a positive voltage to the upper electrode at the time of an operation of increasing a resistance value of the insulating film and an operation of decreasing the resistance value thereof, and applies a positive voltage to the lower electrode at the time of an operation of reading out the resistance value of the insulating film.