The EU's plan mentions Taiwan, home to the world's largest
contract chipmaker TSMC and other leading semiconductor companies, as one of
the "like-minded partners" Europe would like to work with.
The plan, unveiled on Tuesday, calls for the European
Commission to ease funding rules for innovative semiconductor plants, a move
that comes as a global chip shortage and supply chain bottlenecks have created
havoc for many industries.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement it was pleased
to see the strong momentum in bilateral trade and investment between Taiwan and
the EU, and welcomed the EU attaching so much importance to the island.
It is convinced that "in the post-pandemic era, Taiwan
and the EU have enormous room for cooperation in the restructuring of global
supply chains such as semiconductors, industrial recovery, and strengthening of
democratic resilience".
Taiwan will build on its friendly relations with the EU to deepen
their partnership, the ministry added.
TSMC, which said last month it was still in the very early
stages of assessing a potential fab in Europe, declined to comment on the
European chip legislation. TSMC is spending $12 billion on chip factories in
the United States.
In one wrinkle for EU ambitions, Taiwan's GlobalWafers
failed this month in a EUR 4.35 billion takeover attempt of German chip supplier
Siltronic.
Neither the EU nor its member states have formal diplomatic
relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but the bloc has been keen to show its
support for the island, especially as China-EU ties sour over trade and human
rights disputes. © Reuters
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