Taiwan allows Foxconn boss Terry Gou and semiconductor giant TSMC to seek Covid-19 vaccines from BioNTech

The billionaire and manufacturer will be allowed to negotiate with the German company on behalf of the island’s government

Taiwan, which is battling a surge in cases, has struggled to secure enough vaccines amid a global shortage

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Foxconn boss Terry Gou wants to buy five million doses of the BioNTech vaccine. Photo: AP

Published: 5:01pm, 18 Jun 2021Updated: 8:56pm, 18 Jun 2021

Taiwan has stepped up its efforts to secure Covid-19 vaccines by allowing Foxconn billionaire Terry Gou and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to negotiate on behalf of the government with BioNTech.

Gou, who wants to make the purchase through his Yonglin Education Foundation, and TSMC head Mark Liu met President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss the plans on Friday, according to presidential office spokesman Chang Tun-han.

Chang said after the meeting that the Taiwanese government would speed up the authorisation process for Yonglin and TSMC to buy BioNTech vaccines.

Earlier in the day, Taiwan’s cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng said Gou hoped to buy 5 million doses from the German vaccine developer and TSMC wanted to donate an equal amount.

Lo also said that BioNTech had told Gou that it would only sell to governments. He said that a “good method under this framework” was to authorise TSMC and the Yonglin Education Foundation to pay on behalf of the government.

He said the government was continuing its own talks with BioNTech with the help of the German government, adding there was no guarantee that Gou or anyone else would succeed.

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