15. Pension and Severance Plans

Foreign Defined Benefit Pension Plans

Our subsidiaries in Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan sponsor defined benefit pension plans that cover substantially all of their respective employees who are not covered by statutory plans. Charges to expense are based upon actuarial analyses. The components of net periodic pension cost for these defined benefit plans are as follows:



	For the Three Months Ended June 30,						For the Six Months Ended June 30,
	2015			2014			2015			2014
	(In thousands)
Service cost	$	1,209		$	1,449		$	2,428		$	2,873
Interest cost	760			794			1,526			1,573
Expected return on plan assets	(850		)	(781		)	(1,706		)	(1,547		)
Amortization of prior service cost	8			50			17			99
Recognized actuarial loss	25			16			46			108
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,152		$	1,528		$	2,311		$	3,106

Korean Severance Plan

Our subsidiary in Korea participates in an accrued severance plan that covers employees with at least one year of service. To the extent eligible employees are terminated, our subsidiary in Korea would be required to make lump-sum severance payments on behalf of these eligible employees based on their length of service, seniority and rate of pay at the time of termination. Accrued severance benefits are estimated assuming all eligible employees were to terminate their employment at the balance sheet date. Our contributions to the National Pension Plan of the Republic of Korea are deducted from accrued severance benefit liabilities.

The provision recorded for severance benefits for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015 was $9.7 million and $14.8 million, respectively. The provision recorded for severance benefits for the three and six months ended June 30, 2014 was $1.2 million and $6.8 million, respectively.