Taiwan’s Foxconn, TSMC Sign $ 350 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Deal

TAIPEI, July 12 (Reuters) – Taiwanese companies Foxconn (2317.TW) and TSMC (2330.TW) announced on Monday that they had reached deals to purchase 10 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Germany’s BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE), putting the total cost of the highly politicized deal at around $ 350 million.

The government of Taiwan has tried for months to buy the vaccine directly from BioNTech and accused China, which claims the autonomous island as its own territory, of rescinding a deal the two sides were expected to sign earlier this year. . China denies the charges.

Last month, amid public pressure over Taiwan’s slow vaccination program, the government agreed to allow Foxconn founder Terry Gou and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to negotiate on its behalf. for vaccines.

BioNTech’s Chinese sales agent Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (600196.SS) said on Sunday that an agreement had been signed, but did not give details of a delivery time.

Gou wrote on his Facebook page that he was “satisfied” that the deal has been reached, which will see Foxconn and TSMC each purchase 5 million doses, which will be given to the government for distribution.

“But we cannot relax, because we will continue to work hard to push back the time and quantity of delivery,” he said.

“However, this batch of vaccines delivered straight from the German factory, I believe, will help Taiwanese society gain confidence and provide respite from the epidemic.”

The BioNTech vaccine drama has swept through Taiwan and made headlines. While a relatively small domestic coronavirus outbreak is largely under control, only about a tenth of its 23.5 million people have received at least one of the two regimens.

TSMC and Foxconn, two major suppliers to Apple Inc (AAPL.O), said in a joint statement that the first BioNTech vaccines are not expected to arrive until late September at the earliest, shipped direct from Germany, but have not specified how many would come first.

The Taiwanese cabinet said the vaccines would be given free to the government.

Gou said Beijing did not interfere in the talks.

“During the negotiation period after my donation was offered, there was no guidance or interference from the Beijing authorities on the mainland on the vaccine procurement process,” he said.

The German firm has not yet commented. Fosun deleted an earlier statement from its WeChat account citing BioNTech chief executive Ugur Sahin as saying the company was “very grateful” for being able to supply the vaccine to Taiwan.

Fosun did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why those comments were deleted.

Taiwan has millions of vaccines on order, mostly from AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), while the United States and Japan together have donated nearly five million doses. to the island to help speed up vaccinations.

A person familiar with the talks told Reuters that TSMC’s involvement and unconditional donations of US and Japanese vaccines created a favorable global environment for Taiwan and made it difficult for China to hamper the deal.

A major Taiwanese Buddhist group, the Tzu Chi Foundation, is also trying to buy photographs.

Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Kim Coghill and Richard Pullin

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