Chinese government wades into Dutch chipmaker dispute — presses Netherlands to resolve Nexperia saga as supply concerns grow

China has called on the Netherlands to move quickly to resolve the dispute surrounding Nexperia, the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer owned by China’s Wingtech, after months of supervision measures and a retaliatory export freeze disrupted shipments of basic components used across the automotive and electronics industries.

The request was delivered on Thursday by China’s Ministry of Commerce, which said the Dutch government must take “effective efforts” to restore normal corporate governance and supply chains.

According to reporting by government-controlled China Daily and ministry spokesman He Yadong, Wingtech sent a formal invitation to Nexperia’s independent directors and equity trustees to visit China for discussions over control of the company and ways to stabilize output. China, he said, has asked the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs through its embassy in Beijing to implement previously agreed arrangements and facilitate the visit. He described the dispute as a product of “undue administrative interference” by the Dutch state and urged The Hague to create conditions that allow internal corporate negotiations to proceed.

Nexperia, formerly part of Philips, produces large volumes of commodity logic, power discretes, diodes, and transistors. These are manufactured primarily in Europe, then shipped to China for packaging and assembly. That structure became a fault line in late September when the Dutch government used a Cold War-era statute to place Nexperia under state supervision.

Officials argued that they needed to prevent technology transfers that could weaken domestic control over legacy chip production. A Dutch court then suspended Wingtech-appointed executives, handed share voting rights to a court-appointed trustee, and reshaped the board to curb Wingtech’s influence.

Chinese officials responded within days by blocking Nexperia’s Chinese facilities from exporting packaged parts back to Europe. Because roughly 70% of Nexperia’s European wafer output had been flowing to its Chinese back-end operations, the halt immediately slowed deliveries to automakers and other industrial customers. Some divisions inside Nexperia began operating semi-independently as unpaid invoices mounted and cross-border shipments stalled, according to earlier disclosures by the company and Dutch officials.

Both governments have since eased the toughest restrictions without resolving the underlying fight for control. Dutch authorities have maintained their supervisory role while encouraging resumed dialogue. China has resumed shipments of certain civilian-use semiconductor products, which He said demonstrates the country’s willingness to safeguard “the security and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.” Wingtech, meanwhile, is appealing the rulings that placed Nexperia under state oversight.

What happens next depends on whether the Netherlands permits Nexperia’s officials to travel for negotiations and whether those talks can address the governance split that has left the company’s European and Chinese operations out of sync. Until then, the dispute remains a risk for industries that rely on steady flows of the low-margin components that rarely draw attention until they stop flowing.

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