Chang was explaining his company's recent decision to end all unpaid leave for its staff, a move that has been seen as a sign of the sector's recovery from a downturn that hit six months ago.

TSMC, which has adopted a furlough policy since December, announced Friday that it will stop the cost-cutting measure with effect from April 1, in light of a number of unanticipated orders.

Despite the encouraging announcement, Chang said he does not think the global economic recession has bottomed out.

He said he believes the U.S. economy is unlikely to improve until the end of this year or early next year and that he "hopes Taiwan's economy will recover earlier than the U.S.'"

TSMC last week revised upward its financial outlook for the first quarter, in the wake of a recent influx of unanticipated orders due mainly to strong market demand in China.

The company forecast that its first quarter revenue would range between NT$36 billion and NT$38 billion, up from the NT$32 billion to NT$35 billion projected previously.

Also, TSMC predicted that it would show a gross profit margin of 14 percent to 16 percent, up significantly from the 1 percent to 5 percent previously forecast.

However, even after the revision, its projected revenue would still be 41 percent to 44 percent lower than in the previous quarter, the company said.