A former TSMC engineer said in a social media post that he left the company after two years in Hsinchu because sustained mental pressure led to appetite loss and a 12-kilogram drop in body weight. He has since moved to a less demanding job with acceptable pay, but said news about TSMC compensation still triggers a strong sense of regret. The post quickly drew heavy traffic and debate online.
Average employee pay reached NT$4.09 million
The former engineer wrote that if he had stayed, his annual compensation might now be above NT$3.5 million. The reaction was sharpened by newly cited pay data. According to the article, TSMC's 2025 financial report showed average employee compensation, including bonuses, at NT$4.09 million, up nearly 23% from NT$3.57 million in 2024, setting a new high.
Using the figures cited in the report, new engineering hires with a master's degree start at around NT$2.2 million in annual compensation on average, including bonuses. More experienced engineers with 5 to 10 years on the job can fall in the NT$3 million to NT$5.5 million range. Those numbers became the center of the discussion and resonated with people who had faced the choice of staying or leaving.
Replies focused on health and tolerance for pressure
Many responses argued that leaving was not an impulsive move but a decision made after health had already been affected. One widely supported comment said losing that much weight under pressure was already a clear sign that the cost was too high. Others who said they had also left high-stress roles wrote that moving to foreign firms or lighter positions gave them a better work-life balance and more stability at home.
Some replies were blunter. One commenter asked whether a higher salary would really matter if the person could not physically or mentally endure the job. The article also cited a current TSMC engineer who said the pace had accelerated since last year, with the same staffing expected to handle more than 1.5 times the workload, and some colleagues had already been called in by managers after falling behind.
Some saw stock ownership as a workaround
Another line of discussion pointed to investing instead of employment. One commenter said he had also left a higher-paying job three years ago because of family and health concerns, then kept buying 0050 and TSMC shares every month. As of now, he said, his total income over those three years was higher than what he would have accumulated by staying in the original role.
The article listed TSMC stock gains of 42.32% in 2023, 92.56% in 2024, and more than 55% in 2025, with annualized returns over the three-year period above 60%. That performance made "buy TSMC stock" one of the most repeated suggestions in the thread.
Low turnover still comes with a steep filter
The report added that TSMC's employee turnover rate was 3.5% in 2024, a record low. But looking back to 2021 and 2022, first-year turnover among new hires had reached 15% to 17.6%. High bonus payouts help keep people in place, yet the process of staying there still appears tied to a demanding test of health, stamina, and tolerance for pressure.