The Scale Challenge for Taiwan’s Software Startups: Output per Employee and Talent Pay

The scale of Taiwan’s startups On Friday, I exchanged industry views with a woman I know who works in corporate venture capital (CVC) in electronics and technology. She suddenly mentioned eLAND Information, one of Taiwan’s notable software startups. One day she had looked up its revenue and was startled to find it was only a little over NT$100 million. Here was a Taiwanese software startup that was well known, had a long history, held a high domestic market share, and was frequently recommended by word of mouth—yet its revenue was only a little over NT$100 million. First, a brief introduction to eLAND, for which I continue to have great respect. Its website states: ‘A leading representative of Taiwan’s AI-powered data industry, specializing in research and development in advanced software technologies such as AI semantic analysis and search engines. We aim to combine developments in AI and big data to become a world-leading software technology R&D company. Our current products and services include AI semantic analysis platforms, social data analytics platforms, and search engine platforms. We consistently hold the leading market share in Taiwan. Our principal customers include leading enterprises in high technology, telecommunications, finance, and retail, giving us extensive market coverage. eLAND Information continually pursues progress and is committed to providing customers with more comprehensive, professional, high-quality data solutions, working with you to create a friendlier data ecosystem.’ Its founder, Dr. Yang Liwei, started the business while at university. He studied information management at National Taiwan University, continuing from his undergraduate degree through a doctorate in the field. With that background out of the way, I can understand how the CVC teams at large electronics companies feel. One challenge for software companies is that, alongside electronics and technology giants with revenues in the tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even trillions, they really do look small. A single manager or associate vice president at a large electronics company may be responsible for several billion to tens of billions in annual sales or procurement. Another challenge is how to expand effectively beyond Taiwan. Even if you establish a strong position domestically, you immediately hit the market’s ceiling. Then comes the point I often make: the key is output per employee. eLAND probably has around 110 employees at present, with roughly NT$1.66 million in revenue per employee. That makes competing for top talent against major technology companies and IC design firms difficult. MediaTek announced an average employee salary of NT$4.63 million in 2024. An AI company seeking to attract enough excellent software engineers has to find ways to improve output per employee to remain competitive in the future. Assembling outstanding Taiwanese software engineers to compete internationally and build globally competitive products is still a chicken-and-egg problem. Pay must be internationally competitive to attract internationally competitive talent, who can build world-class products and take them into global competition. Even then, winning is not guaranteed. In 2024, the Taiwan Stock Exchange published 2023 salary data for full-time employees at listed companies who did not hold management positions. Six companies had average salaries above NT$3 million. MediaTek (2454) ranked first for the third consecutive year at NT$3.754 million. The top ten, in order, were MediaTek, NT$3.754 million; Novatek, NT$3.712 million; JSL Construction & Development, NT$3.659 million; Lian De (聯德), NT$3.581 million; Realtek, NT$3.149 million; Global Unichip, NT$3.134 million; TSMC, NT$2.842 million; Airoha, NT$2.804 million; Hotai Motor, NT$2.63 million; and ASMedia, NT$2.621 million.