More than 50 firms listed on the local main board and the over-the-counter market plan to give their employees a pay raise matching or beating a raise announced by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), data showed on Saturday.
TSMC, the world’s largest pure foundry operator, last week announced that it would raise its employees’ salaries by between 3 and 5 percent this year, the same as last year, making the chipmaker an exception in the nation, where wages have stagnated for years.
TSMC has been dubbed one of the “happy enterprises,” because it raises wages every year.
Numerous listed companies are planning to follow TSMC’s example, according to their filings to the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).
Integrated circuit packaging and testing services providers King Yuan Electronics Co (京元電子) and Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技); radio frequency integrated circuit supplier RichWave Technology Corp (立積電子); and Medigen Biotechnology Corp (基亞生技) will raise salaries by between 3 and 5 percent, TWSE data showed.
Gym equipment maker Keysheen (Cayman) Holdings Co (基勝開曼控股) plans to raise salaries by between 1 and 8 percent, according to the data.
Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥), the nation’s largest cement supplier, and Internet and communications device maker Radiation Technology Inc (里華科技) are planning to hike wages by between 2 and 7 percent, TWSE data showed.
Biotech firms Microbio Co Ltd (中天生技) and Oneness Biotech Co Ltd (合一生技) plan to raise wages by between 2 and 10 percent, while Formosa International Hotels Corp (晶華酒店) would increase wages by between 3 and 6 percent, according to the data.
Movie theater operator Wanhwa Enterprise Co (萬華企業) plans to raise salaries by between 3 and 15 percent this year, the data showed.
Apart from wage hike, TSMC distributed NT$44.84 billion in bonuses to its employees last year, with each employee receiving NT$1.07 million on average .
The company last year posted a record NT$334.25 billion (US$11.061 billion) in net profit, with earnings per share of NT$12.89.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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