Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. Chairman Mark Liu said the company is open to acquiring a memory chipmaker but stopped short of identifying possible acquisition targets, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.

The world's biggest contract chipmaker and key Apple Inc. supplier is eyeing diversification as its mobile-driven earnings decline. Taiwan Semiconductor develops several logic and analog chips but does not produce memory chips.

The company's annual revenue from mobile-related chips, which accounts for half of its top line, could decline in 2018 as demand has shifted beyond smartphones to artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and automotive chips, the Nikkei Asian Review said.

Investment in Taiwanese memory chip provider Nanya Technology Corp. or a joint venture with U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. are some of the options for the company as both are leading producers of dynamic random access memory, a critical component for electronic devices, the news outlet said.

At a trade fair in Taiwan, Liu said the company's CapEx will continue to rise over the next few years and added that he does not expect trade tensions between the U.S. and China to affect investment plans, according to the report.