Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said Wednesday that it will pay NT$16,000 (US$509) in special bonuses to each of its employees on its annual Sports Day, although the event has been canceled for the third year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
TSMC said its Sports Day, which was scheduled for Oct. 15, will not be held because of the increase in domestic COVID-19 cases and in consideration of the safety of its employees and their relatives.
Nonetheless, the company said, it will pay a Sports Day bonus of NT$16,000 to each of its non-managerial employees in Taiwan and give them each NT$2,000 worth of shopping vouchers.
The total payment by TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is estimated to top NT$800 million, as it has some 50,000 employees in that category.
In the past two years, TSMC also canceled its annual Sports Day due to COVID-19, but the company paid its non-managerial employees bonuses of NT$12,000 each in 2020, and NT$16,000 in 2021.
The special bonus payment is a way of saying thanks to the employees for their contribution to the company’s performance, said TSMC, which has seen record high sales in recent years, despite market volatility amid the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions.
Meanwhile, with effect from October, TSMC will subsidize purchases of its stocks by its employees, the company said last week, citing its efforts to retain talent.
Under the program, TSMC will provide subsidies amounting to 15 percent of any stock purchases by the workers, once they are employed at a company facility in Taiwan or at a subsidiary in the country that is fully owned by TSMC.
TMSC employees will be allowed to allocate up to 20 percent of their salaries for the purchase of company stocks, while workers are the subsidiaries will be permitted to assign up to 15 percent of their pay for that purpose, the chipmaker said.
Last year, TSMC’s net profit rose by an annual 15.2 percent to a record NT$596.54 billion, and it reported an earnings per share of NT$23.01, compared with NT$19.97 a year earlier. Its consolidated sales also soared, jumping from NT$1.34 trillion in 2020 to a record high of NT$1.59 trillion last year.
In the first half of this year, TSMC’s EPS was NT$16.96, up from NT$10.57 a year earlier, and it is forecast to top NT$34 for the full 2022.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel