Fab + design... its apples to oranges.
TSMC for example has 77k employees and looking to add 23k more.
Packaging and testing are labor intensive, and require folks to be added in different geographies.
SMIC: 20k employees
UMC: 20k employees
TSMC only has that many employees because they have a nearly 2/3rd market share of all ASIC production.
SMIC: 20k employees
UMC: 20k employees
TSMC only has that many employees because they have a nearly 2/3rd market share of all ASIC production.