AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Netherlands’ Economy Minister Vincent Karremans on Sunday said he expected to have a meeting with a Chinese government official within days to discuss how to resolve a standoff over computer chip maker Nexperia NV, which is threatening global auto supply chains.
The Dutch government seized control over Nexperia, a subsidiary of China’s Wingtech and an important supplier of basic chips used in cars, on September 30, prompting the Chinese government to ban exports of the company’s finished products.
The Chinese “have the impression that we are teaming up with the Americans,” on the intervention at Nexperia, but it was in fact aimed at preventing the company’s former Chinese CEO from transferring operations and intellectual property out of Europe, Karremans said in an interview on the Dutch television show Buitenhof.
THREAT OF SUPPLY CHAIN IMPACT
Nexperia’s chips are not the most sophisticated but they are manufactured in large volumes, mostly in Hamburg, Germany, and then sent to China for packaging and further distribution throughout the global car industry.
Carmakers fear shortages will emerge in their supply chains before any alternatives are found if the standoff continues.
On the other hand, Karremans noted that Chinese carmakers also need Nexperia’s chips. “We have a mutually dependent relationship,” he said. “Everyone has an interest … to solve this together.”
Nexperia reported $331 million in net profit in 2024, making it a valuable asset for Wingtech.
Karremans said Dutch diplomats have been working to resolve the standoff and he personally has an appointment with the Chinese minister responsible for the matter within days.
“So this is being discussed up to the highest level,” he said.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and David Holmes)
