Google has reportedly selected Taiwanese HTC to make its upcoming 9-inch Nexus tablet. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google had been mulling HTC as a potential Nexus tablet partner since last year and HTC engineers have been flying to the Googleplex in Mountain View in recent months to work on the project.

Google and HTC declined to comment on whether they are collaborating on a Nexus tablet.

Google’s decision to pick HTC reflects the software giant’s long-standing philosophy of building a broad base of partners, the report added.

If the report is correct, Google's move would mean no hat trick for Asus, which built the last two versions of the Nexus 7. Google has also partnered with Samsung on the Nexus 10.