Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, last year paid its directors more than the nation’s other listed companies, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) said on Saturday.
The TWSE said that TSMC’s directors received an average of NT$51.997 million (US$1.71 million) in compensation in addition to their salaries last year, when the chipmaker was ranked the nation’s most profitable company.
Last year, TSMC posted NT$334.25 billion in net profit, a record high, with earnings per share reaching NT$12.89 on the back of strong global demand for handheld devices and the company maintaining its lead over peers in technology development.
CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) has paid the second-most generous salary to its top employees, with directors receiving an average NT$50.82 million last year, the TWSE said.
Last year, CTBC Financial generated NT$27.93 billion in net profit representing earnings per share of NT$1.43.
Largan Precision Co (大立光), a smartphone camera lens supplier to Apple Inc, doled out an average of NT$28.20 million in compensation to its directors, ranking third-highest, the stock exchange said.
Although Largan posted earnings per share of NT$169.47, the highest among all the nation’s listed companies, its directors’ average remuneration lagged far behind that of TSMC and CTBC Financial, at about 54 percent of TSMC’s compensation.
The financial sector occupied three of the top 10 spots on the list and the high-tech sector held two spots with TSMC and Largan, while other industries took the remaining five, TWSE said.
Directors at Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) and Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) received an average compensation of more than NT$21 million, the TWSE said.
In the traditional economy sector, directors of Cheng Shin Rubber Industry Co (正新) and food maker Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一) last year received an average compensation of NT$25.25 million and NT$22.97 million respectively, it said.
Some companies did not hand out bonuses last year although they remained profitable, including scanner supplier Microtek International Inc (全友) and computer peripheral devices maker Pan-International Industrial Corp (廣宇).
However, several listed companies that incurred losses still compensated their directors, with 24 of these exceeding an average NT$1 million per board member, according to the TWSE data.
Smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) paid its board NT$4.87 million per person on average, even though the company reported a NT$10.56 billion net loss for last year; PC vendor Acer Inc’s (宏碁) board received NT$1.54 million per person, despite net losses totaling NT$4.9 billion last year and solar cell maker Neo Solar Power Corp (新日光) posted a loss of NT$6.31 billion last year, but provided its board with an average compensation of NT$21.03 million per person.
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