China Future Tech webinar: how Nexperia got caught in the US-China rivalry
A Post webinar discusses the context and implications of the Nexperia saga
The takeover of Nexperia’s management by the Dutch government has angered Beijing, which responded by imposing export controls on products manufactured by the chipmaker and its subcontractors in China.
Subsidiary Nexperia China, which operates a semiconductor factory in Dongguan, in the southern Guangdong province, has also openly challenged orders from its head office in the Netherlands.
In the latest China Future Tech webinar, veteran Dutch journalist Marc Hijink, who has been covering the semiconductor industry in the Netherlands for more than a decade; SCMP chief Europe correspondent Finbarr Bermingham and SCMP senior tech reporter Coco Feng discussed the context and implications of the saga.
Behind the Nexperia crisis and China-Netherlands tech tensions | China Future Tech webinar
Why did the Dutch authorities cite a 1952 law to seize management of Nexperia? Was it to kick out the company’s Chinese CEO Zhang Xuezheng from the board?
The fear that production would halt at the Hamburg and Manchester factories due to mismanagement by Zhang Xuezheng led the Dutch authorities to invoke the 1952 law, Hijink said. The move was “a bit too dramatic” as there was a sense of urgency that the Dutch had to do something. Zhang is the founder of Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of Nexperia.
Hijink noted that the US played a part in the saga, putting pressure in the background. Nexperia was not in the crosshairs of geopolitical tensions in 2019, when China’s Wingtech acquired Nexperia as its chips were not highly advanced.
But the US decision to put Wingtech on Washington’s trade blacklist added risk exposure for Nexperia as the Dutch chipmaker “appeared less Chinese and more European”. The efforts, however, were not supported by Zhang, and the Dutch authorities had to jump in.