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Pension Plan
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Pension Plan
14. PENSION PLAN
SMI Taiwan, the Company’s largest operating company is a Taiwan registered company and subject to Taiwan’s Labor Pension Act (the “Act”), which became effective on July 1, 2005, and the pension mechanism under the Act is deemed a defined contribution plan. The employees who were subject to the Labor Standards Law prior to July 1, 2005 could choose to be subject to the pension mechanism under the Act or continue to be subject to the pension mechanism under the Labor Standards Law. For those employees who were subject to the Labor Standards Law prior to July 1, 2005 and still work for the same company after July 1, 2005 and have chosen to be subject to the pension mechanism under the Act, their seniority as of July 1, 2005 were maintained. The Act prescribes that the rate of contribution by an employer to employees’ pension accounts per month will not be less than 6% of each employee’s monthly salary. According to the Act, SMI Taiwan made monthly contributions and recognized pension costs of US$1,682 thousand, US$1,783 thousand and US$2,109 thousand for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The Company provides a defined benefit plan to the employees of SMI Taiwan under the Labor Standards Law that offers benefits based on an employee’s length of service and average monthly salary for the
six-month
period prior to retirement. The Company contributes an amount equal to 2% of salaries paid each month to a pension funds (the “Funds”), which is administered by the Labor Pension Fund Supervisory Committee established by the government (the “Committee”) and deposited in the Committee’s name in the Bank of Taiwan. Before the end of each year, the Company assesses the balance in the Funds. If the amount of the balance in the Funds is inadequate to pay retirement benefit for employees who conform to retirements in the next year, the Company is required to fund the difference in one appropriation that should be made before the end of March of the next year. The government is responsible for the administration of all the defined benefit plans for the companies in Taiwan under the Labor Standards Law. The government also sets investment policies and
strategies, determines investment allocation and selects investment managers. As of December 31, 2019 and 2020, the asset allocation was primarily in cash, equity securities and debt securities. Furthermore, under the Labor Standards Law, the rate of return on assets shall not be less than the average interest rate on a two-year time deposit published by local banks. The government is responsible for any shortfall in the event that the rate of return is less than the required rate of return. However, information on how investment allocation decisions are made, inputs and valuation techniques used to measure the fair value of plan assets, the effect of fair value measurements using significant unobservable inputs on changes in plan assets for the period and significant concentrations of risk within plan assets is not fully made available to the Company by the government. Therefore, the Company is unable to provide the required fair value disclosures related to pension plan assets. Future contributions will be based on 2% of employees’ annual salary. The Company estimates its contribution for the year ending December 31, 2021 to be US$61 thousand which was determined based on 2% of estimated salaries in 2021.
Starting in 2010, the Company provides a defined benefit pension plan to the Korean employees of FCI with at least one year of service. FCI’s overall investment strategy is to avoid a negative return on plan assets. On May 31, 2019, the Company divested FCI.
For employees under defined contribution pension plans, pension costs are recorded based on the actual contributions made to employees’ individual pension accounts. For employees under defined benefit pension plans, pension costs are recorded based on actuarial calculations. Determining the cost associated with such benefits is dependent on various actuarial assumptions, including discount rate, expected return on plan assets, compensation increase, employee mortality and turnover rates. The Company reviewed its actuarial assumptions at the measurement date on December 31 every year. The effect of modifications to assumptions is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss and amortized to net periodic cost over future periods using the corridor method. The Company believes that assumptions utilized in recording its obligations under its plans are reasonable based on its experience and market conditions. Independent actuaries perform the required calculations to determine expense in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Actual results may differ from the actuarial assumptions and are generally accumulated and amortized into earnings over future periods. The net periodic costs are recognized as employees render services necessary to earn the benefits
.
The changes in benefits obligation and plan assets and the reconciliation of funded status are as follows:
 
    
December 31
  
    
2018
     
2019
     
2020
  
    
US$
     
US$
     
US$
  
Change in benefit obligation
                           
Projected benefit obligation at beginning of year
      5,131        5,838        1,754  
Service cost
      568        275        5  
Interest cost
      126        91        5  
Actuarial loss (gain)
      146        72        (8 ) 
Benefits paid
      (133 )       (450 )       (40 ) 
Disposal of subsidiary
      —          (4,072 )       —    
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Projected benefit obligation at end of year
      5,838        1,754        1,716  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Change in plan assets
                           
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year
      5,114        5,410        1,487  
Actual return on plan assets
      63        98        49  
Employer contributions
      331        85        49  
Benefits paid
      (98 )       (448 )       (34 ) 
Disposal of subsidiary
      —          (3,658 )       —    
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Fair value of plan assets at end of year
      5,410        1,487        1,551  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Funded status recognized as an other liabilities
      (428 )       (267 )       (165 ) 
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income consist of the following:
 
    
Year Ended December 31
  
    
2018
     
2019
     
2020
  
    
US$
     
US$
     
US$
  
Net loss
      678        693        754  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Total recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income
      678        693        754  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
The accumulated benefit obligation for all defined benefit pension plans was US$3,864 thousand, US$939 thousand and US$1,008 thousand at December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The components of net periodic benefit cost are as follows:
 
    
Year Ended December 31
  
    
2018
     
2019
     
2020
  
    
US$
     
US$
     
US$
  
Service cost
      568        275        5  
Interest cost
      126        91        5  
Projected return on plan assets
      (78 )       (77 )       (29 ) 
Amortization of unrecognized net transition obligation and unrecognized net actuarial gain
      41        48        37  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Net periodic benefit cost
      657        337        18  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Other changes in plan assets and benefit obligation recognized in other comprehensive loss:
 
    
2018
     
2019
     
2020
  
    
US$
     
US$
     
US$
  
Recognize the decrease in net gain (loss)
      —          15        61  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
Total recognized in other comprehensive loss (income)
      —          15        61  
    
 
 
     
 
 
     
 
 
  
The estimated net gain for the defined benefit pension plans that will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income into net periodic benefit cost over the next fiscal year is US$33 thousand.
Expected benefit payments:
 
    
US$
  
2021
      7  
2022
      21  
2023
      16  
2024
      82  
2025
      50  
2026 and thereafter
      308  
The actuarial assumptions to determine the benefit obligations were as follows:
 
    
2018
    
2019
    
2020
  
    
Taiwan
    
Korea
    
Taiwan
    
Taiwan
  
Weighted-average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations:
                                 
Discount rate
      1.38 %      3.60 %      1.00 %      0.50 % 
Rate of compensation increase
      4.25 %      3.00 %      4.00 %      4.00 % 
Weighted-average assumptions used to determine net projected benefit cost:
                                 
Discount rate
      1.38 %      3.60 %      1.00 %      0.50 % 
Expected long-term return on plan assets
      1.75 %      1.40 %      2.00 %      2.00 % 
Rate of compensation increase
      4.25 %      3.00 %      4.00 %      4.00 %