COVID-19 is still around the world and disrupting the economy and normal life of everyone. We recently heard the news that the two Taiwanese giants of the international tech supply chain, FOXCONN and TSMC have agreed to buy 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for the island country. This is to prevent a possible standoff between Taipei and Beijing.
According to sources, both the companies have agreed to pay up to $35 a dose of the BioNTech vaccine and have decided to donate them to the government. Both of them have pledged a total of $175 million to this cause, that’s how much each of them will pay by the way.
BioNTech is partnered with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. to distribute its mRNA-based vaccine, which was co-developed with Pfizer, within China. And there have been multiple claims by the Taiwanese administration that the Chinese government blocked an attempt to secure a supply of vaccines from BioNTech. However, the island country also later refused an offer of vaccine donations from the mainland.
“Since we proposed the vaccine donation and started negotiating for the purchase, there had been no guidance or interference from Beijing over the acquisition. We appreciate that the negotiation was allowed to go through as a business matter.” – Foxconn
Foxconn has contracts with electronics manufacturers including HP, Dell, and Lenovo, and is also best known as the largest iPhone assembler. On other hand, TSMC is the world’s largest semiconductor foundry and manufactures chips for the likes of AMD, Apple, and Nvidia. most of the SoC’s found in smartphones come from this company. And Taiwan is TSMC’s main base for semiconductor operations.
Taiwan was initially extremely successful in its response to the pandemic but is currently experiencing a sudden outbreak that has killed more than 700 people. Thus the demand for vaccines has increased in the country. However, with the support from two of the world’s most important and biggest tech industries, hopefully, the condition will improve.
TSMC and Foxconn say the newly secured BioNTech doses will be shipped from its factories in Germany and should start to arrive in Taiwan in late September.
