Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The median employee salary at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, reached NT$1.81 million (US$64,874) in 2020, up from NT$1.63 million a year earlier.
TSMC listed the median employee salary for 2020 excluding pensions and welfare payments in the latest corporate social responsibility report posted on its website Wednesday.
According to the report, the higher median salary came after the chipmaker raised wages by 3-5 percent for employees in Taiwan in April last year, 7-8 percent in China and 3-5 percent elsewhere in the world.
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家) received more than NT$420 million in salary in 2020, the highest at the company, which was 233 times higher than the firm's median salary for the year, TSMC data showed.
In 2020, average employee pay at TSMC, including annual salary, year-end bonus and performance bonuses, topped NT$1 million, which was four times Taiwan's basic salary.
For newly recruited engineers with master's degrees or higher, the average salary in 2020 was above NT$1.8 million, TSMC said.
At the end of last year, TSMC had a workforce of 56,831 worldwide, including 38,456 managers, specialists and assistants and 18,375 production line workers.
At a time when TSMC was keen to expand production capacity and upgrade technology to maintain the company's lead over its peers, the chipmaker hired an additional 8,193 employees worldwide last year, including 7,322 in Taiwan, the report shows.
It also indicated that 79.5 percent of the new recruits were aged below 30.
In its know-how and technology intensive industry, TSMC said employees with a master's degree or higher accounted for 80 percent of the company's managers and specialists in 2020.
Taiwan made up about 90 percent of the company's total workforce worldwide, with Asia, North America and Europe accounting for the remaining 10 percent, TSMC said.
On the back of rising revenue and earnings, TSMC said, it spent NT$140.8 billion on employee salary and allowances in 2020.
In 2020, TSMC's revenue totaled NT$1.34 trillion, marking the 11th consecutive year sales have set a new high, with net profit also hitting a record of NT$517.89 billion.
Meanwhile, TSMC said the company views 5-10 percent as a healthy employee turnover rate, so the 5.3 percent turnover rate in 2020 was well within expectations.
