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China has called on the Netherlands to act quickly to resolve a dispute over Dutch semiconductor maker Nexperia, owned by China’s Wingtech Technology, after months of regulatory measures and retaliatory export freezes disrupted shipments of essential components used in the automotive and electronics industries.
China’s Commerce Ministry made the request on Thursday, saying the Dutch government must take “effective efforts” to restore normal corporate governance and supply chains.
According to government-controlled reports china daily According to He Yadong, spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Wingtech Technology issued a formal invitation to the independent directors and equity trustees of Nexperia, inviting them to come to China to discuss issues of company control and stable output. He said that China has requested the Dutch Economic Ministry through the Dutch Embassy in Beijing to implement the previously agreed arrangements and facilitate the visit. He described the dispute as the product of “undue administrative interference” by the Dutch government and urged The Hague to create conditions that would allow internal corporate negotiations to proceed.
Nexperia, formerly part of Philips, manufactures a large number of commodity logic devices, power discretes, diodes and transistors. These products are primarily manufactured in Europe and then shipped to China for packaging and assembly. That structure became a fault line in late September when the Dutch government used Cold War-era regulations to place Nexperia under state supervision.
Officials believe they need to prevent technology transfers that could weaken domestic control over traditional chip production. A Dutch court subsequently suspended Wingtech’s appointed executives, handed stock voting rights to a court-appointed trustee, and reorganized the board of directors to curb Wingtech’s influence.
Chinese officials responded within days, blocking Nexperia’s Chinese factories from exporting packaging components to Europe. Since about 70% of Nexperia’s European wafer output has been flowing to its Chinese back-end operations, the shutdown immediately slowed deliveries to automakers and other industrial customers. As unpaid invoices mounted and cross-border shipments stalled, some units within Nexperia began operating semi-independently, according to previous disclosures by the company and Dutch officials.
Both governments have since eased the toughest restrictions without resolving the underlying battle for control. Dutch authorities have maintained a supervisory role while encouraging the resumption of dialogue. China has resumed shipments of some civilian semiconductor products, which he said demonstrated China’s willingness to maintain “the security and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.” Wingtech, meanwhile, is appealing a ruling that placed Nexperia under state supervision.
