Taiwan Semiconductor Manufact-uring Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world's biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday revised a company charter to allow its president to double as chief executive officer, in preparation for a shake-up in its top management.
The new rule made the retirement of 73-year-old chairman Morris Chang (
"I will announce that [retirement] at a proper time," Chang told shareholders. Chang, who also serves as the company's chief executive officer, stressed that the succession would not come without proper warning.
Chang declined to comment on whether he would relinquish control over the company to TSMC president Rick Tsai (蔡力行).
But Tsai was tapped to become TSMC's chief executive officer during a board meeting yesterday after the shareholder meeting, taking over from Chang, according to a company statement. Chang will keep the chairmanship.
The board members chose deputy CEO Tseng Fan-cheng (曾繁城) as TSMC's vice chairman. The personnel arrangements will take effect in July, according to the statement.
"[Chang] believes that the structure of the top management team should be planned in advance and implemented in steps. In line with that philosophy, he has contemplated TSMC's future organization over the past few years," spokeswoman Lora Ho said (
Chang and Tseng will not participate in the company's employee profit sharing after assuming their new positions, Ho said.
"It's time for Chang to hand over his post. I'm not surprised about the company's decision to pick Tsai as Chang's successor," said Bill Lan (藍新仁), a portfolio manager who oversees a NT$5 billion fund for Jih Sun Securities Investment Trust Co (日盛投信).
Lan said he would not expect the management shake-up to jolt TSMC's stock prices today, as the company's operations will by no means be affected by the reshuffling of top management.
TSMC expected its operation to bottom out in the current quarter. Wafer shiments will grow by as much as 10 percent in the current quarter and factory utilization rate will rebound to around 80 percent, the company said.
During yesterday's meeting, shareholders approved the board's proposal to give a NT$2 cash dividend and NT$0.5 stock dividend.
They also backed a proposal to cap the portion of profits allocated for directors and supervisors' bonuses at 0.3 percent of the company's distributable profits, instead of the current fixed 0.3 percent.
The board also approved the request of its major shareholders including Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV and Development Fund of the Executive Yuan to issue a maximum of 210 million American Depositary Receipts (ADR). Each ADR is equivalent to five common TSMC shares.
TSMC shares were unchanged at NT$54.7 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
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