A Hausdorff topological semiring is called simple if every non-zero continuous homomorphism into another Hausdorff topological semiring is injective. Classical work by Anzai and Kaplansky implies that any simple compact ring is finite. We generalize this result by proving that every simple compact semiring is finite, i.e., every infinite compact semiring admits a proper non-trivial quotient. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.