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Nexperia’s Chinese subsidiary announced it had achieved low-volume production of chips using 12-inch silicon wafers, a development that deepens the division’s rift with its Dutch parent, which does not produce wafers of that diameter.
A closer look at TH Premium: Chip Manufacturing
Nexperia said in a statement posted on its Chinese social media account that its “independent research and development and mass production capabilities” had reached a new milestone. Reutersproduces bipolar discrete devices, Schottky rectifiers and electrostatic discharge protection devices. All of these are commodity power semiconductors that the Dutch company also makes. Nexperia’s European headquarters declined to comment, and Nexperia China could not immediately be reached to confirm where its 12-inch wafers are sourced. The most likely supplier is Wentian Semiconductor, a 12-inch wafer fab in Shanghai run by Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezheng. Back in December, Reuters According to reports, a letter to Nexperia’s Chinese distributor pointed out that WingSkySemi is the planned automotive-grade wafer supplier, with a reported monthly production capacity of 30,000 wafers, while 8-inch IGBT wafers are supplied by Shanghai Gate Semiconductor and wafer fab United Star Technology Co., Ltd. associated with SMIC. Nexperia China claims it can now produce chips that are simpler than IGBTs, a type of insulated-gate bipolar transistor used for current regulation in applications such as electric vehicles. and industrial equipment. That said, if the announcement is true, it shows how far the company’s Chinese subsidiary has come in establishing a self-sufficient supply chain since it began its feud with Nexperia in late 2025. This started when the Dutch government took over Nexperia from Wingtech in October 2025, citing governance issues, and subsequently formed a European management team. In October, the Netherlands stopped shipping wafers to Nexperia’s Chinese factory due to non-payment, and a Dutch court ordered Wingtech’s founder to be removed from his position as Nexperia’s CEO. Subsequently, Beijing restricted the export of Nexperia’s finished chips, resulting in a chip shortage that forced Honda to temporarily suspend production at its factories in China and Japan. Both governments partially eased measures in November, but legal proceedings and internal struggles for control continued, with Nexperia saying in December that its Chinese subsidiary had “no intention of negotiating a short-term solution to resume chip supplies to customers.” Nexperia China said that despite the disruption, it had delivered more than 11 billion chips to more than 800 customers since mid-October. A Dutch court is scheduled to hold a hearing on control of the company on January 14, but it is unclear what will happen after the hearing, and no resolution of the corporate governance dispute has been publicly announced.
