Dutch chipmaking equipment supplier ASML Holding NV is planning to offer NT$1.6 million (US$51,331) or more in starting annual pay to engineers with a master’s degree at its sites in Taiwan.
The major supplier to contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said it is keen to offer competitive compensation comprised of salaries, bonuses and other financial incentives as it seeks to expand its talent pool in Taiwan.
The company, which is planning to build a plant in New Taipei City, said engineers would in their first year be granted 10 days annual leave, compared with the minimum of three days per six months stipulated in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Economic Development Department
Starting from next year, ASML’s female employees would also get 14 weeks of maternity leave and male employees 10 days of paternity leave, compared with a legal minimum of eight weeks and seven days respectively.
Amanda Ho (何思穎), chief financial officer of ASML’s Taiwanese and Southeast Asian operations, said that 35 percent of the firm’s local employees have no engineering, science, technology or mathematics-related degrees.
ASML is committed to helping those workers build their careers, she said.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
In-house training programs would run six to 18 months, the company said, adding that it spends more than NT$5 million on training each new engineer.
The recruitment campaign is in line with the company’s new investment project announced earlier last week to build a new production complex in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) to better serve its clients in Taiwan.
The New Taipei City Government said that the first phase of ASML’s investment is expected to total NT$30 billion, the company’s largest investment plan in Taiwan to date, with a campaign to hire 2,000 workers for the Linkou campus, which is to include production lines, offices, a research and development center, and logistics and warehousing operations.
ASML is the world’s sole supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce cutting-edge chips.
In addition to TSMC, the company’s other prominent clients include Taoyuan-headquartered DRAM maker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) and US-based Micron Technology Inc, which are planning to install EUV photolithography machines.
The Veldhoven, Netherlands-headquartered company has 60 operation hubs in 16 countries, with Taiwan as its largest hub in Asia.
In Taiwan, ASML has four client support centers, two research-and-development centers and two training centers, with its workforce expected to expand to 4,500 by the end of this year.
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading