TSMC

TSMC supports universal and affordable access to digital technologies by donating laptops to economically disadvantaged students. It also discloses the number of people with disabilities it employs, and it partners with universities to assist people with disabilities.

The company’s Big Data and Cloud Technology initiative provides technical digital skills training. Further, the company supports school connectivity through an initiative that provides rural primary schools with teaching resources and online support systems.

The company meets industry norms with high-level responsibility for cybersecurity and information security management certification, and it discloses its data breaches. TSMC also considers data privacy a key topic in its materiality analysis.

TSMC discloses that it collaborates with universities on several research areas, such as novel devices, process and materials technologies, semiconductor manufacturing and engineering, and speciality technologies for electronic applications. It also uses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for measuring its progress and discloses its renewable energy use and carbon emissions. The company also discloses its research and development (R&D) locations.

TSMC can  improve reporting on the measures it has taken to make its workplace inclusive for people with disabilities. Additionally, it can report its direct economic value generated.

The company has an opportunity to contribute to advancing basic and intermediate technological skills. It can also disclose additional metrics on its existing initiatives, such as financial metrics, to allow for better assessment of their impact.

As a digital company, TSMC has an opportunity to make a high-level commitment to child online safety.

TSMC has an opportunity to enhance its support for the tech startup ecosystem. It can also report on the ethical considerations it follows in its R&D activities.

TSMC commits to respecting human rights and has a grievance mechanism accessible to both workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights concerns and complaints. The company has included human rights issues in its materiality assessment, but it does not disclose a process to identify and assess salient human rights risks in its own operations and in its business relationships. TSMC discloses that it engages with various stakeholders in general, but it does not specify if it engages with stakeholders whose human rights could be impacted by its activities. Furthermore, the company conducts a risk assessment to identify and manage the main risks in its supply chain, but no evidence was found that it carries out human rights due diligence that includes a process to identify its human rights risks and impacts.

TSMC publicly commits to respecting worker health and safety and places the same expectation on its business relationships. Furthermore, TSMC commits to paying its workers a living wage. The company does not disclose a policy commitment stating that it does not require workers to work more than regular and overtime hours, and it does not explicitly state that it requires its business relationships to do this. Furthermore, the company does not have a policy statement committing to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. In relation to workforce diversity, while the company provides a breakdown of employees in different employee categories by gender, it does not disclose employee breakdowns for other indicators of diversity, such as age group.

TSMC has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and includes anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in its business relationship contracts. The company also has a global tax strategy and provides a breakdown of its tax payments by region in Taiwan. However, it does not disclose its income tax payments for all its individual tax jurisdictions. Furthermore, TSMC does not disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement. Specifically, the company has no public statement indicating that it does not make political contributions, and it does not disclose its lobbying expenditures.