TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As big tech's mass layoffs sweep Silicon Valley, Micron Taiwan confirmed on Friday (Feb. 10) rumors of work force streamlining at its Taoyuan main office.
The American chipmaker employs approximately 10,000 people in Taiwan, though cost-cutting plans have been implemented since late December to cope with an expected sales slump for 2023. The measures include slashing operational expenditure and suspending stock buybacks.
A day earlier, the American chipmaker said it is cutting salaries of executives by as much as 20% and suspending bonuses, media reported.
Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, PayPal, SAP, IBM, and Spotify are among the big tech companies reporting aggressive cost-cutting measures since late last year, including layoffs and executive pay cuts.
In November, Micron Taiwan announced more hires locally, but the optimism quickly reversed after the company started making what are reportedly mass layoffs last week. Several people who claim to be Micron Taiwan employees posted on Dcard, Taiwan's largest online discussion forum, that they were given short notice of termination, while those being sacked were given a better-than-expected severance package.
In response to the rumor, the company issued a statement saying work force streamlining will continue this year through layoffs or voluntary resignations, but it did not unveil the size of cuts in Taiwan.
In Taiwan, the atmosphere among local semiconductor and tech companies is quite different. The recruitment plans of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and IBM Taiwan, for example, remain unchanged, TVBS reported.
When asked about the recent layoff spree, Advantech founder KC Liu (劉克振) said Taiwanese tech companies are more capable of sustaining economic contraction when demand begins to fall, as their employee costs are lower than those of their American rivals — up to a 2.5 times difference.
