Ninety-six percent of companies in Taiwan plan to issue Lunar New Year or year-end bonuses, with the average being 1.39 months of wages, the highest average since 2012 amid improving corporate profitability, 1111 Job Bank (1111人力銀行) said yesterday, citing a survey.
The number of firms offering bonuses is up 10 percent from a year earlier, when the average was 1.32 months of wages, 1111 Job Bank said.
Financial institutes topped the survey, with the average bonus in the sector amounting to 1.97 months of wages, it said, adding that local life insurers, lenders, asset management firms and securities brokerages benefited from rising demand for wealth management, and stock rallies at home and abroad.
Photo: CNA
The average year-end bonuses at the most profitable financial institute, Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), are to be 7.5 months of wages, up from six months last year, Fubon Financial Holding chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) told reporters on the sidelines of a year-end banquet.
State-run Hua Nan Financial Holding Co (華南金控) said that its employees were expected to benefit from the bank-focused conglomerate’s profit growth by receiving bonuses of 6.5 to seven months of wages.
The nation’s 14 listed financial holding companies reported combined profits of NT$571.4 billion (US$17.36 billion) in the first 11 months of last year, giving them room to be generous, 1111 Job Bank said, adding out that year-end bonuses have become part of total compensation packages to attract and retain talent.
Taiwanese suppliers of IT products were second with average bonuses in the sector of 1.6 months of wages, the survey showed.
The IT industry was a major beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom, the job bank said, adding that 76 percent of companies in the sector planned to raise wages this year.
Barry Lam (林百里), founder and chairman of AI server provider Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), told employees on Thursday that the company would undergo rapid business growth this year on top of strong earnings last year.
The transportation and logistics industry was third, with bonuses of 1.5 months of wages, the survey showed.
Employees at Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), Taiwan’s largest cargo container shipping company, reportedly received 20 months of wages as year-end bonuses this week, as the shipping industry benefited from disruptions to container shipping traffic in the Red Sea last year.
Companies that do not plan to issue bonuses pinned the blame mainly on disappointing financial results, the job bank said.
The survey showed that 71.3 percent of firms would take employees’ performance and seniority into consideration when arriving at bonus amounts, while a few companies limit bonuses to employees who outperform their peers, the job bank said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RSS