Taiwan has declared it will help stabilise the semiconductor supply chain, after high-level talks with European Union officials.

This declaration follows the European Chips Act, which was unveiled in February, and mentioned Taiwan as one of the “like-minded partners” Europe would like to work with.

The Act eases funding rules for innovative semiconductor plants, in light of the global chip shortage and supply chain bottlenecks.

Taiwan is home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, and has been in talks with the EU to build factories in the bloc.

Taiwanese Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua described the recent talks, held with Sabine Weyand, director-general for trade at the European Commission, as a big breakthrough in Taiwan-EU relations.

Previous Taiwan-EU meetings were held at the deputy level; this marks the first one to be raised to ministerial level.

“Taiwan will continue to be a trusted partner of the global semiconductor industry and help stabilize supply chain resilience,” Wang’s ministry said in a statement.

Wang told Weyand that Taiwan has “tried its best” to help resolve the global chip shortage.