Nexperia seizure: chip supply threatened amid fight over unit of China’s Wingtech

Nexperia, the European semiconductor subsidiary of Chinese electronics part maker Wingtech, is caught in the crossfire of the US-China tech...

Nexperia, the European semiconductor subsidiary of Chinese electronics part maker Wingtech, is caught in the crossfire of the US-China tech war and faces an uncertain future amid restrictions from both the Chinese and Dutch governments, according to analysts.

The Dutch government has taken over Nexperia, a move that provoked strong opposition from its Chinese owner Wingtech, the Chinese government and players in China's semiconductor supply chain. They have vowed to fight for control of the Nijmegen-based chipmaker by leveraging key links in China, including a packaging and testing plant in the city of Dongguan in southern Guangdong province.

As a leading power-chip company, Nexperia's situation created "increased risk of chip supply disruptions" in the global automotive and industrial supply chains, which were reliant on the company for components, said Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

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China's Ministry of Commerce issued an export control notice on October 4, banning the domestic unit of Nexperia and its subcontractors from exporting specific Chinese-made components, the company said on Tuesday.

One of the closely watched assets owned by Nexperia is its Dongguan packaging and testing plant, which accounts for 70 per cent of its final product shipments. The export control calls into question whether the company will be able to ship its chips to foreign clients like Apple and Tesla.

Nexperia had more than 12,500 employees across Europe, Asia and the US, and shipped more than 110 billion products a year, according to its website.

The restrictions imposed on Nexperia were expected to force clients to shift orders to other power-chip makers including Infineon Technologies, On Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics and Rohm Semiconductor, said Bai Wenxi, chief economist at IPG China.

These companies had all completed automotive certifications, and their chips would be able to replace Nexperia's in product designs within six to nine months, Bai said.

In the first half of 2025, Nexperia's revenue grew 11 per cent from a year earlier to 7.8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion), accounting for 31 per cent of Wingtech's total revenue. China generated nearly half of Nexperia's total revenue during the period.

The move by Beijing to restrict Nexperia's exports came days after the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs issued an order to exert temporary control over Nexperia on national security grounds.

That order, in turn, came after the US Bureau of Industry and Security, the agency responsible for Washington's export control policies, issued a "50 per cent subsidiary" rule to limit exports to companies affiliated with entities on a US trade blacklist. As Wingtech was added to the Entity List in December 2024, American companies are now prohibited from exporting or transferring US-origin goods, software or technology to Nexperia without a special permit.

"Although Nexperia is not explicitly mentioned, the company is affected due to its status as a wholly owned subsidiary of Wingtech," the company said in the statement.

For Beijing, the Dutch government's seizure of Nexperia's management and its ousting of Zhang Xuezheng as CEO are blatant violations of Chinese business interests. The government, China's state-backed semiconductor industry association and the Chinese media have vowed to support Wingtech in "defending its rights".

Yang Mu, chairman of Wingtech, said in a briefing on Sunday that the company would retain the vast majority of its production in China amid the export control policies.

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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.

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