The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs is taking strong action against chip manufacturer Nexperia, owned by the Chinese holding company Wingtech. Nexperia is not allowed to move business units, hire new managers or make other decisions for a year without explicit permission from the Dutch government. Multiple sources of NRC confirm reports about this in Chinese media. Documents that Wingtech published this week about the interventions at subsidiary Nexperia are circulating there.
This is an exceptional emergency measure to prevent intellectual property about chips from disappearing abroad. According to insiders, there were signals that Nexperia was planning to leak chip knowledge to China. That would be a threat to national and economic security.
The ministry confirmed the measures on Sunday evening in a press release. The Amsterdam Enterprise Chamber has now removed CEO Zhang Xuezheng from his position as director of Nexperia as an emergency measure. The reason for this was a request made by three Nexperia directors on October 1. An emergency hearing of the Enterprise Chamber on October 6 led to Zhang Xuezheng being temporarily replaced by a non-Chinese director.
‘Forbidden list’
The outgoing Minister of Economic Affairs, currently Vincent Karremans (VVD), has various options to monitor knowledge security. One of these is the Availability of Goods Act. It is exceptional that that law is applied; it is a backup instrument for extraordinary circumstances, such as war or acute national emergency. The emergency in this case: the availability of chips for the European automotive industry.
Nexperia does not make complicated or advanced chips, but manufactures standard products on a large scale that are used in all electronics. Until 2017, Nexperia was part of NXP (once a subsidiary of Philips) and then fell into Chinese hands. The head office is still in Nijmegen, and Nexperia has factories in Germany and the United Kingdom. Since 2019, Wingtech, an investment group of Zhang Xuezheng, has been the owner. Wingtech has been subject to US government export restrictions since December 2024.
Nexperia received the letter from EZ on September 30, one day before the US imposed stricter export restrictions on Chinese companies on October 1, meaning Wingtech’s subsidiaries are now also on the US ‘prohibited list’. As a result, Nexperia is no longer allowed to purchase American goods without a permit.
In an official response, Nexperia said it refrains from commenting and “follows all laws, regulations and export restrictions.”
Support
In China, a statement from Wingtech about the case on Sunday caused quite a stir. Wingtech wrote in an online statement, which was later deleted by the company but widely covered by Chinese media was sharedthat it condemns both the actions of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in the name of economic security and those of some members of Nexperia’s management.
The company speaks of “excessive interference” and “discrimination against companies with Chinese investors.” It states that there are “a number of foreign management members”, whose wishes closely match those of the Dutch government, and who would take advantage of the geopolitical tensions within the semiconductor industry to implement changes within the company.
There is now a lot of speculation on Chinese social media about possible counteractions against Dutch companies
Wingtech is a major player in China’s semiconductor industry, and Nexperia is the company’s main source of profit. The company is in the middle of intense geopolitical competition between China and the United States in chips.
Both countries have also increased the tension in this geopolitical battle in recent weeks. On October 9, the Chinese government announced a series of new export controls that will require companies to apply for permission to export rare metals if those materials are used to produce semiconductors and related products. It is still unclear how great the impact of the new measures will be on European chip makers.
There is now a lot of speculation on Chinese social media about possible counteractions against Dutch companies. Wingtech has asked the Chinese state for support. Chinese investors are also wondering what this ‘black swan’ will bring about on the Chinese stock market on Monday.
This article was updated on Sunday evening 12-10 with the press release from the Ministry of Economic Affairs about Nexperia.
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