TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As it prepares to build a new plant in New Taipei City, Dutch lithography equipment manufacturer ASML Holding N.V. is planning to offer engineers with a master's degree over one million Taiwan dollars in starting annual salary, while training will be offered to some workers without a technical background.

Amid ASML's plans to build new facilities in New Taipei City's Linkou District, the firm said that it will provide competitive rewards, dividends, and benefits to draw 2,000 new workers. The firm is not only offering newly graduated engineers with a master's degree an annual salary of NT$1.6 million (US$51,000), but is also budgeting millions of Taiwan dollars per person to train engineers, and will provide opportunities for new employees with non-technical backgrounds, reported CNA.

Newcomers will have 10 days of annual leave upon arrival, and maternity leave will be increased to 14 weeks and paternity leave to 10 days from 2023. ASML plans to spend six to 18 months to train new engineers at a cost of NT$5 million per person.

ASML is a top supplier for contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) with 60 operation hubs in 16 countries, and Taiwan is the firm's largest hub in Asia with four customer support centers, two R&D centers, and two training centers. The combined workforce for all of its facilities is expected to hit 4,500 employees by the end of the year.

Chief financial officer of ASML Taiwan and Southeast Asian operations, Amanda Ho (何思穎), was recently cited by the news agency as saying that 35% of ASML Taiwan’s employees are graduates with non-science and engineering degrees, and that it will continue to hire a certain percentage of such employees in the future. Ho said that after these workers join ASML, the firm will provide career development and learning opportunities.