Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, said it will raise regular salaries for employees in Taiwan by 20 percent, starting Jan. 1, 2021.

TSMC said the salary hike is part of wage structure adjustments in which the chipmaker will raise the ratio of regular salary as part of total earned income relative to non-regular wages, such as bonuses.

According to the company, many employees complained that the amount of bonuses is subject to change based on its bottom line, preferring to receive a higher regular salary which is fixed and not subject to change due to fluctuations in profitability.

TSMC said as employees are the company's most precious asset it is determined to take care of them as well as possible and a higher fixed regular wage is one way to do that.

Raising regular wages will help the company to attract a younger generation of employees and retain as much talent as possible to facilitate future growth, TSMC said.

In 2019, TSMC paid entry-level employees with a PhD a basic salary of NT$48,130 (US$1,689) on average, up from NT$46,600 in 2018, and paid master's degree holders NT$32,530 on average, up from NT$32,500 a year earlier, according to TSMC.

TSMC also paid senior high school graduate entry-level employees NT$30,500 on average in 2019. A year earlier, the chipmaker hired no senior high school graduates.

The company said the wage structure change will not affect its annual salary hike program.

The chipmaker is the most profitable company in Taiwan in terms of total net income as it has maintained a lead over its peers in high-end technology development.

In the third quarter of this year, TSMC's net profit hit a new high of NT$137.31 billion, up 13.6 percent from the previous quarter and also up 35.9 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share at NT$5.30.

The company's net profit for the first nine months of the year rose 63.6 percent from a year earlier to NT$375.12 billion, with EPS of NT$14.47.

By: DocMemory
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