China announced that it will exempt certain Nexperia chips from an export ban imposed after a dispute with Dutch authorities, aiming to ease growing concerns among European automakers and industrial companies about potential supply shortages. Anxiety over chip shortages began when the Netherlands invoked a Cold War-era law in late September to effectively take control of Nexperia, whose parent company Wingtech is backed by the Chinese government.
China, in response, banned any re-exports of Nexperia chips to Europe and accused the United States of meddling in Dutch legal procedures to remove Nexperia’s Chinese CEO. Beijing blamed what it said was “the Dutch government’s improper intervention in the internal affairs of enterprises” for leading to “the current chaos in the global supply chain”. “We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of enterprises and grant exemptions to exports that meet the criteria,” a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement, without offering specifics.
The resumption of some Nexperia shipments was part of a trade deal agreed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump after talks in South Korea, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified sources. Chinese and European Union officials were also to discuss Nexperia while meeting in Brussels, EU spokesman Olof Gill had said. Those talks were “a welcome opportunity for both sides to update on… the introduction and implementation of export controls”, Gill said in a statement. The discussions covered “controls on rare earth elements introduced or proposed by China, as well as an update on controls and developments on the EU side”, he said. The statement did not mention Nexperia specifically.
Nexperia produces relatively simple technologies such as diodes, voltage regulators and transistors that are nonetheless crucial as vehicles increasingly rely on electronics.
