Embattled Dutch chipmaker Nexperia gets into public spat with Chinese owners — accused of deception and obstruction, suspending wafer shipments
A governance battle inside one of the world’s biggest suppliers of mature-node chips is now spilling into the open.
Tensions inside Nexperia have sharpened after its parent company, Wingtech Technology, publicly accused the Dutch head office of deception and obstruction, deepening a corporate conflict that has already disrupted wafer flows and raised concerns among major automotive and industrial customers.
The latest confrontation followed a public letter from Nexperia’s headquarters in Nijmegen urging its Chinese subsidiary to resume communications, which it claimed had stalled despite repeated calls, emails, and proposed meetings. Wingtech and the Dongguan-based unit rejected that account in a statement on Thursday, November 27, and said the real issue was the Dutch office’s suspension of wafer shipments and its decision to cut Chinese employees off from internal IT systems.
Wingtech, which acquired Nexperia in 2019, said that it was seeking the restoration of what it described as its lawful control and shareholder rights. The company recently argued that regaining formal authority over Nexperia’s operations is the prerequisite for stabilising global supply chains. It also accused the Dutch management of trying to engineer a “non-Chinese supply chain” structure that would permanently exclude Wingtech from decision-making.
The Dutch headquarters disputed that claim and reiterated that it had made “repeated and multiple attempts” to engage with the Chinese unit. Its letter called for constructive talks to restore operational stability and ensure customers were not caught in the middle. Dutch management also defended its plan to invest $300 million into expanding capacity at Nexperia’s Malaysian site. Nexperia China countered that the investment was intended to shift much of the company’s output overseas and isolate the Dongguan facility, which handles a significant share of the firm’s assembly and test work.
Despite the breakdown between the two sides, Nexperia China said it had shipped 7.4 billion components to more than 500 customers worldwide since October. It maintained that wafer supply interruptions originated in the Netherlands rather than through any refusal to engage.
The dispute escalated enough for Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to raise the issue in two separate video conferences this week with German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche and European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic. Chinese officials said both sides agreed that internal talks between Nexperia Netherlands and Nexperia China should resume promptly and produce a long-term solution.
The standoff now centres on governance, operational control, and the future geography of Nexperia’s production. Although the company specialises in mature technologies such as logic, discretes and power devices rather than advanced processors, its high-volume catalogue underpins everything from automotive ECUs to industrial power systems. Any prolonged split in decision-making between Europe and China risks turning a corporate fight into a broader supply chain shock, and this week’s public confrontation suggests the gap between the two sides is still widening.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.