The Dutch government's decision to take control of the Chinese-owned Dutch chip manufacturer Nexperia wasn't just to prevent technology from being transferred overseas, but also based on serious financial concerns over the CEO attempting to bail out his other company with Nexperia funds, according to the Dutch newspaper NRC.
New court records published by the paper allegedly show that Chinese executive and founder of Nexperia's parent company, Wingtech, Zhang Xuezheng, forced Nexperia to place an order with his privately owned chip factory, WingSkySemi in Shanghai, worth over $200 million. That, despite it actually requiring less than $100 million worth for its own production needs.
This complicates the narrative that the Dutch government was trying to resist the loss of specific technologies from the Netherlands and the EU. Adding more to the picture, a New York Times report on the ongoing saga alleges that Washington was also involved. According to its report, court documents reveal "U.S. officials had pressured the Dutch government about the company’s ownership," and that one American official allegedly stated "The fact that the company’s C.E.O. is still the same Chinese owner is problematic."
It may be partly down to all those factors, though it appears the catalyst may have been Xuezheng's private greed. He forced European officials' hands, and then is reported to have requested assistance from Beijing, expanding the political scope of the spat.
It also falls on the backdrop of ongoing polarization in the global supply chains of advanced silicon. We've seen the Trump administration take a great interest in the access to and sale of advanced AI processing technology like GPUs and CPUs to China. This move may be further action to restrict Chinese access to chips for a range of purposes, too.
Indeed, as nations around the world look to build out their own domestic supply of chips and access to AI technologies through infrastructure building projects, access to the latest semiconductors (and even some older designs, it appears) has become of strategic, as well as economic, importance. The potential of a future conflict between China and Taiwan (where up to 90% of the world's most advanced semiconductors are produced) and its allies before the end of the decade looms over the entire endeavour, too.
The New York Times quotes Reva Goujon, a director at research firm Rhodium Group, as saying, “All these governments are very uncomfortable with [interdependent supply chains] and would like to see these assets back in their possession.”
Even if it's not clear who fired the first salvo in this silicon trade war, China is just as involved. Just days after the Nexperia takeover by the Dutch government, it barred Nexperia's Chinese facilities from exporting any of their products. Nexperia management is contesting this, but it's not expected to make much headway.
China also recently announced anti-monopoly investigations into major US companies, Nvidia and Qualcomm, in what is considered additional maneuvering for strength ahead of potential trade talks with President Trump at the end of October.
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