14. Pension and Severance Plans

Foreign Defined Benefit Pension Plans

Our subsidiaries in Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan sponsor defined benefit pension plans. Charges to expense are based upon actuarial analyses. The components of net periodic pension cost for these defined benefit pension plans are as follows:



	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2016			2015
	(In thousands)
Service cost	$	8,170		$	1,219
Interest cost	904			766
Expected return on plan assets	(947		)	(856		)
Amortization of prior service cost	9			9
Recognized actuarial loss	24			21
Net periodic pension cost	$	8,160		$	1,159

As a result of the adoption of a defined benefit pension plan in Korea beginning on August 1, 2015, and the acquisition of J-Devices on December 30, 2015, our net periodic pension cost has increased from the prior period.

Defined Contribution Pension Plans

We sponsor defined contribution pension plans in Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and the U.S. Total defined contribution expense was $2.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015.

Korean Severance Plan

Our subsidiary in Korea maintains an unfunded severance plan that covers certain employees that were employed prior to August 1, 2015. 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 for service provided prior to August 1, 2015. Factors used to determine severance benefits include employees' length of service, seniority and rate of pay. The employees' length of service and seniority are fixed as of July 31, 2015. The employees' rate of pay is adjusted to the 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 months ended March 31, 2015 was $5.1 million. On August 1, 2015, our subsidiary in Korea began sponsoring a defined benefit pension plan and a defined contribution plan. For future service benefits, existing employees have the option of choosing either a defined benefit pension plan or a defined contribution plan and new employees will be enrolled in a defined contribution plan.