A nitride compound semiconductor element according to the present invention is a nitride compound semiconductor element including a substrate 1 having an upper face and a lower face and a semiconductor multilayer structure 40 supported by the upper face of the substrate 1, such that the substrate 1 and the semiconductor multilayer structure 40 have at least two cleavage planes. At least one cleavage inducing member 3 which is in contact with either one of the two cleavage planes is provided, and a size of the cleavage inducing member 3 along a direction parallel to the cleavage plane is smaller than a size of the upper face of the substrate 1 along the direction parallel to the cleavage plane.