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TSMC hands out extra bonuses

World's largest contract chip maker sets aside NT$432 million

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TSMC hands out extra bonuses

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., the world’s biggest computer chip contract manufacturer, announced Saturday it would spend NT$432 million (US$13.6 million) on bonuses for its employees next month.

The announcement was made by its long-term chairman, Morris Chang, at the company’s annual sports event, attended by an estimated 20,000 people at a stadium in Zhubei, Hsinchu County.

A total of 36,000 employees in Taiwan who had joined the company before June 1 were qualified to receive NT$12,000 (US$378) each at the end of November, reports said.

In his address to TSMC staff, Chang said that despite key changes in the chip business and the advent of several strong competitors, the Taiwanese company had still managed to increase its market share as well as its profits.

Looking toward the near future, Chang pointed out that as chips had benefited from the sale of smartphones worldwide, business might grow slightly weaker in the fourth quarter of this year and the first one of 2017. Nevertheless, TSMC would have employed 3,500 new members of staff by the end of 2016 to reach a total for the company of 45,000 employees, Chang said.

On a global scale, economic growth next year might show a slight improvement over this year, according to the TSMC chairman, one of the most prominent business leaders in Taiwan.

Chang also warned Taiwan not to be too optimistic about chances to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, not because of problems related to the island, but because enthusiasm for the project had significantly cooled in the United States. Even presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had changed her stance from supporting the TPP to being critical, Chang said, telling his audience that the likelihood of the partnership coming into existence soon was rather low.