The filing alleges HR called the complainant 'too sensitive' and closed its probe in five days
TSMC is facing a class action lawsuit alleging systemic gender discrimination — and its own HR department is squarely in the crosshairs.
The case, filed on April 16 in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington (Yeh v. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. et al., No. 3:26-cv-05388), was brought by Yi-Nung Yeh, a former software engineer at TSMC Washington. Yeh alleges the semiconductor giant engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination against women in hiring, pay, promotion, staffing, and termination across its US operations.
The numbers in the filing are hard to ignore. TSMC's American workforce is allegedly 72.6% male. Among managers, men reportedly make up 85.4%. Among professionals, 77.9%. Meanwhile, 59% of the women TSMC employs are allegedly concentrated in its lowest-level, lowest-paid technician roles — compared to just 14% of men. The filing points to TSMC's own 2023 Sustainability Report, which acknowledged "gender disparities in high-paying positions resulting in occupational segregation."
But what may hit closest to home for HR leaders is how the company's human resources function allegedly handled internal concerns.
Yeh, who holds two master's degrees and previously led development teams at Amazon and Oracle, was offered a principal software engineer role in August 2025 and joined TSMC Washington the following month. According to the filing, she arrived to find her title had been changed without explanation. And while her two male peers each supervised multiple direct reports, she was given none — a gap that, she alleges, left her at a disadvantage in a role where a substantial portion of compensation was performance-based.
When she raised concerns starting September 23, 2025, the response from HR allegedly made things worse. An HR representative reportedly called her "too sensitive," ordered her to stop emailing her grievances, and asked if she could "accept" continued disparate treatment. An internal investigation allegedly wrapped up in five days — without interviewing her. A later third-party review was, according to the filing, restricted in scope "as determined by TSMC," contradicting assurances that her concerns would be "thoroughly reviewed."
According to the filing, on December 8, HR told Yeh no evidence of targeting had been found and that she would need to "find a way to work with HR." Two days later, she was terminated.
The filing also paints a broader picture of the alleged workplace culture. It claims a section manager at TSMC Arizona showed pictures of women in bikinis during a meeting after instructing employees to turn off their phones and laptops, that women were called "juicy" and "sexy," and that candidates were asked whether they planned to become pregnant.
Yeh is seeking class certification on behalf of all women who applied for or worked at TSMC in the United States and were allegedly not hired, not promoted, underpaid, or terminated. The proposed class is believed to number in the thousands.
Worth noting: TSMC received $6.6 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act — which required commitments to a workplace free of harassment and discrimination and the submission of workforce diversity plans.
No determination has been made in the case, and the allegations have not been proven. TSMC has not yet responded.
