Taiwan is willing to allow the founder of Foxconn (TPE: 2317), Terry Gou, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC)(TPE:2330) to negotiate on the government's behalf for COVID-19 vaccines, Reuters news agency reported on Friday.

Reportedly, Gou said he was seeking a meeting with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss his plans to buy five million COVID-19 shots from Germany's BioNTech SE (Nasdaq:BNTX).

Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) (2330.TW) wanted to donate an equal amount.

Lo said BioNTech had told Gou, who wants to make the purchase through his Yonglin Education Foundation, on Wednesday they will only sell vaccines to governments.

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

Taiwan is trying to speed up the arrival of the millions of COVID-19 vaccines it has on order as it deals with a spike in domestic cases.

Japan donated 1.24 million AstraZeneca Plc's (LON:AZN) COVID-19 shots to Taiwan this month and the United States has pledged 750,000 doses, although it has not given details.

This is reportedly on top of the COVID-19 vaccines Taiwan has already ordered.