Taipei - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC), the world's largest contract chip maker, saw its December sales fall nearly 55 cent year-on-year due to the global slump, the company said Friday

In December 2008, TSMC 's sales totalled 13.2 billion Taiwan dollars (399 million US dollars), down 31.8 per cent from November and down 54.8 per cent from December
2007, the firm said in a statement.

January-December sales totalled 322 billion Taiwan dollars (9.8 billion US), up 2.6 per cent from 2007.

TSMC's financial report reflects the plight of most Taiwan businesses which have been hit hard by the global financial crisis. Many Taiwan firms have been forced to lay off workers.

In November 2008, Taiwan's jobless rate soared to 4.64 per cent, with half a million people out of work.

To create jobs for unemployed Taiwanese, the Council of Labour was scheduled to hold a meeting Saturday to decide if it should reduce the quota of foreign workers.

Taiwan employs some 365,000 workers and maids from Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesian, Malaysia and Vietnam. (dpa)