Dutch Economy Minister Vincent Karremans has described the six-week standoff between the EU and Beijing over Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia as a 'wake-up call to Europe and the west'. The row threatened to cripple global car production due to Nexperia's vital supplies of automotive semiconductors.
Karremans said he had no regrets about the tussle, which began on 30 September when the Netherlands took supervisory control of Nexperia under a never-before-used cold war law, alleging risks to 'European economic security'. The minister claimed Nexperia was moving parts of its physical operations in Hamburg to China, based on intelligence and physical evidence.
The Dutch intervention triggered a furious reaction from Beijing, which banned the export of Nexperia's chips from China four days later, causing chaos in carmakers' supply chains and production pauses in Mexico. The crisis was resolved after a deal between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in South Korea at the end of last month, clearing the way for China to resume chip supplies to Europe.
Karremans stressed the Dutch action was not influenced by the US, which put Nexperia on a list of companies facing import controls on 29 September. He said the US had informed the Netherlands of its plans, but the Dutch decision was independent. The minister also detailed demands made to Nexperia's Chinese shareholder, Wingtech, including an independent supervisory board and separation of the CEO and HR roles.
Karremans warned that if Wingtech had moved semiconductor wafer production to China, Europe's interdependence with China would have become full dependency, which would have been 'very dangerous for Europe'. He said he would take the same actions again with the benefit of hindsight.
