TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is still mulling whether to build its first European fab in Germany, a company executive said on Tuesday (May 23).

The Taiwanese chipmaker is in discussions about building a facility in Dresden in the German state of Saxony. This comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions involving semiconductors between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, according to AFP.

“I don’t want to get into the politics of things, but I do think there is a need for us to provide customers with a diverse supply source,” TSMC executive Kevin Zhang (張曉強) told the press at a press conference in the Netherlands. “We think Europe is a very significant geography given the customer base … (and) the demand,” Reuters cited Zhang as saying.

Zhang added the company is carrying out due diligence reviews for proposals on a fab in Dresden, per AFP. He said the earliest time a decision could be made is at a company board meeting in August.

At the beginning of the month, Bloomberg reported that TSMC was in talks to partner with NXP Semiconductors NV, Robert Bosch GmbH, and Infineon Technologies AG to build a fab in Saxony that would manufacture 28nm chips. The venture could include government subsidies with an investment close to US$11 billion (NT$337 billion).

In addition to continuing its domestic expansion of advanced chips in Taiwan, TSMC has also started to expand its overseas presence. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is also building its first facilities in Japan and the U.S.