TAIPEI (TVBS News) — TSMC employees who relocated to the United States from Taiwan have claimed in a recent online post that they are being treated differently than their American counterpart, meaning that they are paid less.
The article was posted on the online platform PTT, and translated and reposted on the U.S. forum Reddit.
According to an analyst from a local job bank, an annual salary of NT＄6 million is around US＄200,000. For a Taiwanese employee with 7 years of experience, even if the salary is doubled, their monthly salary will only be around NT＄200,000.
If you add the dividends and year-end bonus, their annual salary will be between NT$＄4 million to NT＄5 million. Compared to the salary of TSMC's staff in the U.S., there is still a gap, however.
Chen Yin-rou, public relations director of 1111 Job Bank said: "The biggest incentive is that, after working at TSMC for 3 years, (the company) will assist them in applying for a green card in the United States under the so-called skilled immigration regulation."
"This is the biggest reason outside of salary considerations for employees who choose to be relocated," she added.
Concerns have been raised on whether TSMC may slowly be taken over by the U.S., as it announced on Tuesday the construction of another chip plant in the United States. Experts, however, seem to disagree.
Hsin Ping-lung, associate professor at the Graduate Institute of National Development, National Taiwan University said: "It is not really what (TSMC) does in the United States. I am more concerned about what it continues to do in Taiwan after it goes to the United States."
"If it continues to do research and development in Taiwan, or continues to do more advanced processing manufacturing. I think Taiwan will not lose competitive advantage because of this," he added.
Even if TSMC sets up 3 to 5 nm fabs in the United States and continues to invest in more advanced 2 nm and 1 nm domestically, experts believe that there is no need to be overly anxious, as TMSC would also not like to see any possibility of their technology being transferred abroad.
