June 3, 2022: -On Thursday, Semiconductor-powerhouse Taiwan will hold high-level trade talks with the European Union, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, between a concerted push by the bloc to grow its chips industry.

In February, the EU revealed a European Chips Act, with the bloc mentioning Taiwan, home to the contract chipmaker of the world’s largest TSMC and other huge semiconductor companies, as one of the “like-minded partners” Europe would like to work with.

The source, who does not want to be recognized, said that the economy minister of Taiwan, Wang Mei-Hua, would hold talks virtually with a senior EU trade official on Thursday evening. The EU’s trade chief is Valdis Dombrovskis.

On Wednesday, speaking to reporters in Taipei, Wang said Taiwan-EU relations were getting deeper and that talks at all levels were going on.

She decreased to give details, saying if she had anything to announce, she would do so at an appropriate time.

The government of Taiwan believes there is “enormous” room for cooperation with the EU on semiconductors. The EU meeting comes a day after the U.S agreed to launch trade talks with Taiwan.

The European plan calls for the European Commission to lift the budget rules for creative semiconductor plants. A chips shortage and supply chain bottlenecks have assembled havoc for many industries in recent years worldwide.

TSMC said it was still in the initial stages of assessing a potential fab in Europe. The company spends $12 billion on chip factories in the United States.

Taiwan’s GlobalWafers failed in February in a 4.35-billion-euro takeover attempt of German chip supplier Siltronic.

The EU and its member states have not formed any formal diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan, but the bloc has been keen to express some help to the island, especially as China-EU ties spoiled over trade and human rights disputes. Taiwan pushes for a bilateral investment agreement with the EU.