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Nexperia China moved to reassure customers that production will continue uninterrupted, saying it has secured new wafer suppliers and can meet client demand through to the end of the year and beyond. The Chinese division of the semiconductor maker said it had “multiple contingency plans” in place, according to a bilingual statement published early Sunday. The announcement underscored Nexperia China’s efforts to operate independently after Dutch authorities took control of its Netherlands parent from Chinese owner Wingtech in September amid concerns over alleged technology transfers. Nexperia last week suspended wafer shipments to its assembly and testing plant in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Dongguan – a facility that accounts for about 70 per cent of the company’s global output – citing the local unit’s “failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms”. In the statement, Nexperia China described the Dutch headquarters’ justification for the suspension as “misleading and highly deceptive”. “Nexperia China has not breached any contracts; on the contrary, Nexperia Netherlands currently owes ATGD over 1 billion yuan (US$140 million) in outstanding payments,” the company said in the statement. ATGD refers to Nexperia’s assembly and testing plant in Dongguan. It added that the Dutch management team had “put personal interests above the company’s overall interests” and should “bear legal responsibility for the losses inflicted on the company and its employees”. The Chinese division said the unilateral halt to wafer shipments had “gravely undermined customer trust”, but stressed that production remained stable, citing “sufficient inventories of finished goods and work-in-progress” to meet orders through to the end of the year and beyond. To ensure longer-term supply resilience, Nexperia China said it was accelerating the qualification of new wafer suppliers, expressing confidence in resuming full capacity next year. “As a century-old brand, Nexperia’s achievements today are built upon the trust and support of our customers,” the company said, adding that the suspension would “not alter our commitment to product quality and fulfilling customer promises”. The statement came two days after Beijing said it would exempt certain Nexperia orders from the export ban imposed following the Netherlands’ seizure of the Chinese-owned chipmaker. Washington has also agreed to suspend for one year its updated “50 per cent subsidiary” export-control rule, increasing pressure on the Dutch government to reverse its takeover of Nexperia. The rule, which extends US export restrictions to any company at least half-owned by entities on Washington’s trade blacklist, formed part of the broader geopolitical backdrop when the Netherlands moved to seize control of Nexperia. While Dutch authorities said the intervention was aimed at addressing governance shortcomings and safeguarding critical technology, the timing coincided with tightening US export controls on China. The Dutch authorities cited the rarely used 1952 Goods Availability Act to remove Nexperia’s Chinese CEO Zhang Xuezheng and install an interim management team. The stand-off between the Dutch head office and the Chinese plant – a key supplier of semiconductors for automotive, industrial, mobile and consumer applications – has raised fears of supply-chain disruptions across the global car industry. Despite this, the US decision to suspend its tightened export-control rule is expected to provide short-term relief to the global chip industry.
