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The Dutch government has taken control of Nexperia, a Chinese-owned but Netherlands-based semiconductor maker, to try to ensure enough of its chips stay in Europe for the automobile and consumer electronics industries.
For the first time, The Hague has used its Goods Availability Act because of “a threat to the continuity and safeguarding on Dutch and European soil of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities”, the ministry of economic affairs said in a statement.
Nexperia is owned by Wingtech, a Chinese-listed company that Washington has placed on its “entity list”, meaning that US groups require a licence, usually very hard to obtain, to do business with it.
The move escalates frictions between western countries and China over access to high-end technology such as advanced semiconductors and critical raw materials.
On Thursday, China placed sweeping restrictions on the exports of rare earths used in products from cars to wind turbines.
The Dutch ministry statement said that it had acted because of “serious governance shortcomings and actions within Nexperia”.
“The decision aims to prevent a situation in which the goods produced by Nexperia (finished and semi-finished products) would become unavailable in an emergency,” it added. “Nexperia produces, among other things, chips used in the European automotive industry and in consumer electronics.”
Vincent Karremans, the economy minister, can now block or reverse decisions taken by Nexperia’s board. His department acted on September 30 but only made its move public on October 12.
Wingtech, which took a controlling stake in Nexperia in 2019, said in a statement that the decision “constitutes an act of excessive interference driven by geopolitical bias, not by fact-based risk assessment”.
“This move gravely contravenes the European Union’s long-standing advocacy for market-economy principles, fair competition, and international trade norms.
“We strongly protest this discriminatory treatment towards a Chinese-owned enterprise.”
Hours before the announcement on Sunday, Wingtech had made stock exchange filings detailing changes in control.
It said that, on September 30, the Dutch government had issued an order requiring Nexperia and its global subsidiaries, branches, and offices not to make any adjustments to their assets, intellectual property, business operations, or personnel for one year.
The government had then obtained an order from the Amsterdam court of appeal to suspend Zhang Xuezheng from his positions as executive director of Nexperia and non-executive director of Nexperia Holding, its holding company.
The court ruled that an independent, foreign, court-appointed director with decisive voting power and independent representation rights would join both companies.
It also said all shares in Nexperia — except one — would be placed under custodial management by a designated individual, not yet named, for management purposes.
The Dutch move follows a decision by the US in September to put the subsidiaries of hundreds of Chinese companies on the “entity list”.
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The US commerce department said last month that groups that were more than 50 per cent owned by Chinese companies on the entity list would automatically be added to the blacklist. The Chinese commerce ministry on Saturday listed the US action as one of the reasons it had imposed the rare earth restrictions.
Nexperia is based in Nijmegen but has subsidiaries across the world. The company said it “complies with all existing laws and regulations, export controls and sanctions regimes”.
In November 2022, Nexperia was blocked from buying Newport Wafer Fab in the UK over national security concerns related to the Dutch company being owned by Wingtech.
Under US pressure, The Hague has already restricted the sale by Dutch group ASML of advanced semiconductor-manufacturing machines to China.
The ministry said its latest action was not “directed at other companies, the sector, or other countries” and that “parties may lodge an objection to this decision before the courts.”
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