Interview with a former TSMC engineer

Samsung-TSMC total pay gap reaches fivefold when bonuses included

'Our share price is higher, yet our bonuses are lower'

'If Samsung had a factory in Taiwan … ' — envy grows

"If Samsung had a factory in Taiwan, I would have quit TSMC and joined Samsung."

A former TSMC engineer, identified only as A, said TSMC engineers deeply envy Samsung Electronics after the Korean chipmaker reached a labor agreement to set aside roughly 30 trillion won (about $19.4 billion) for employee bonuses. "Engineers work themselves to death for the company, but the company cares more about building factories than taking care of its people," A said. "Engineers are extremely angry."

According to A, the pay gap between Samsung Electronics and TSMC — including bonuses — now stands at least fivefold. A newly hired engineer with a master's degree at TSMC earns roughly 100 million won (about NT$2.5 million) a year in combined salary and bonuses. By contrast, a Samsung Electronics memory chip division employee is estimated to receive bonuses worth roughly 600 million won under the new agreement.

The Samsung bonus deal has given TSMC engineers a new benchmark for comparison. A said semiconductor CEOs in Taiwan have long been content to pay only at the local market rate. "TSMC has paid far more than other Taiwanese companies," A said, "but Samsung's bonus agreement made TSMC engineers realize they could be earning much more — and a sense of deprivation has exploded, with people asking why they are providing the world's most advanced knowledge and getting paid so little for it."

That frustration has fueled an "on-call refusal movement" among TSMC engineers. TSMC engineers are normally required to respond immediately, around the clock, whenever a production line problem arises or a customer makes a request. But following Samsung's bonus deal, engineers have begun refusing on-call duties under the banner of "I'll work as much as I'm paid."

A said engineers routinely work 12 to 16 hours a day, and having four weekends off in a month is considered lucky. After the on-call refusals spread, the company responded by hiring bachelor's-degree assistant engineers dedicated to handling on-call duties, easing some of the burden on senior engineers.

A went on to say that TSMC engineers face intense pressure and heavy workloads that make overtime unavoidable. "There isn't even enough time to sleep after getting home, and on top of that they're paid far less than what Samsung gives its people — so everyone is angry and some have started refusing work," A said. "If Samsung had a factory in Taiwan, TSMC engineers would have defected en masse to Samsung for the better working conditions and treatment."

TSMC employees have already been citing the Samsung union agreement to pressure management, and some have raised the possibility of strikes and forming a union to voice their bonus grievances. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei abruptly canceled a business trip to the Netherlands and held a town hall meeting with employees, announcing that the company's profit-sharing bonus pool this year would grow more than 30 percent from last year.

The ripple effects of Samsung's bonus deal have been strong enough to sap TSMC engineers' motivation to work, A said. "Taiwan lives under constant threat of a Chinese invasion, and TSMC plays the role of a so-called 'Silicon Shield' protecting Taiwan from that threat — engineers have worked hard out of that sense of patriotism," A said. "But Samsung's bonus agreement has deeply disappointed TSMC engineers, and they say they no longer feel like working."

The Samsung bonus dispute has also rattled Micron's Taiwan operations. An engineer working at Micron Taiwan said that after SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics reached their bonus agreements, Micron engineers began complaining to CEO Sanjay Mehrotra directly. "Our share price is higher — so why are our bonuses lower than those two companies? They have money to build factories but can't improve how they treat their employees?" the engineer said, adding that some colleagues are now considering moving to SK Hynix or Samsung Electronics.

Lin Hong-wen, an adviser at the Taiwanese business weekly Jinzhoukan who has covered TSMC for 30 years, said the bonus discontent reflects a broader cultural shift. "In Taiwan, a 'lying flat' culture — prioritizing work-life balance over sacrifice for the company and the nation — is spreading," Lin said. But he noted that former TSMC Chairman Mark Liu has stated at recruitment events that TSMC wants not merely smart people, but those willing to dedicate themselves to advancing cutting-edge technology. "It is a generational conflict," Lin said.

Wu Da-ren, a research fellow at the Taiwan Economic Development Research Center at National Central University, said global technology giants such as Nvidia, Qualcomm and AMD are aggressively poaching TSMC talent with dramatic salary increases and better benefits. "The Taiwanese semiconductor industry is now in a position where it must be on alert for a brain drain," Wu said.


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