Maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance has been integral to TSMC’s core values since its founding. TSMC advocates and acts upon the principles of operational transparency and respect for shareholder rights. We believe that the basis for successful corporate governance is a sound and effective Board of Directors. In line with this principle, TSMC’s Board of Directors established an Audit Committee in 2002 and a Compensation Committee in 2003.

During 2005, TSMC received a number of awards in recognition of our corporate governance practices, including the Best Corporate Governance award from IR Magazine for the Hong Kong and Taiwan regions and the Best Corporate Governance award from FinanceAsia for the Taiwan region. We hold ourselves to world-class standards of integrity and fairness, and we benchmark our transparency and disclosures against some of the best companies in the world.