TSMC employee newborns in Taiwan make up 1.8% of country's 2023 total

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) said Friday that children born to its employees in Taiwan accounted for 1.8 percent of the total number of newborns in the country in 2023.

In its most recently published environmental, social and governance (ESG) newsletter, TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said that employees at its plants in Taiwan gave birth to 2,463 children in 2023, representing about 1.8 percent of the country's total births of 135,571 that year.

Although new births in Taiwan fell to a new low in 2023, the number of newborns to employees at TSMC plants in the country rose from 2,368 in 2022, which represented about 1.7 percent of the country's total that year, according to the newsletter.

To foster a family-workplace under its ESG goal, TSMC said the company continues to implement the "TSMC Child Care Benefit Program 2.0." This provides a secure and enriching educational environment for TSMC employee's children aged two to six at its science park campuses in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan, the chipmaker said.

Under the child care program, eligible employees are granted up to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave for a first child, 16 weeks for a second child and 20 weeks for a third child or more, TSMC said.

The company also provides 10 days of paid paternity leave so employees can spend time with their spouse for prenatal check-ups and newborn care, TSMC added.

In addition, the company's Employee Welfare Committee provides NT$10,000 (US$312.5) in childbirth subsidies and up to NT$10,000 in public group insurance for each birth, TSMC said.

The company has built four preschools on its campuses in Taiwan's three science parks in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan to provide a secure and enriching educational environment for employees' children aged two to six, while the childcare services are also available from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate employee work schedules, according to TSMC.

Since 2023, the company has also made its preschools available to employees of subsidiaries and affiliated companies such as image sensor foundry services provider VisEra Technologies Co., Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp, a smaller contract chipmaker, and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer Global Unichip Corp.

Starting from the 2024 school year, TSMC plans to further expand the services by allowing the children of those who work at science park management bureaus and other companies to attend the preschools, according to the company, which had a total of 67,000 employees in Taiwan at the end of 2023.