Nexperia China, the estranged unit of the Dutch chipmaker, is pushing forward with efforts to secure new wafer suppliers in six months, as the firm’s Netherlands head office and mainland Chinese owner Wingtech Technology started direct talks last week.
In its shareholders meeting in Shanghai on Friday, Wingtech said Nexperia China’s plant in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province, continued to operate amid “a significant gap in wafer supply”, reports from several state-backed media said.
Nexperia’s head office in Nijmegen had suspended further supply of wafers to the Dongguan facility on October 29, following Nexperia China’s refusal of payments for these wafers. According to Wingtech, the Dutch head office “had restricted fund disbursements to Nexperia China”.
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That prompted Nexperia China to start the process of validating domestic wafer suppliers, which “is expected to be completed between the first and second quarters of 2026”, the reports said.
Despite the current wafer shortage, Wingtech claimed that Nexperia China managed to produce and deliver more than 11 billion chips since mid-October to more than 800 clients globally.
That represented a 14 per cent drop in production, compared with Nexperia’s annual global output, which exceeded 110 billion units before the dispute with the Dutch head office. The Dongguan facility accounted for 70 per cent of the chipmaker’s total output.
While Wingtech did not provide details of its first round of negotiations with Nexperia’s head office, the Chinese firm told shareholders that a legal hearing on their dispute would be held in the Netherlands next month.
Nexperia did not respond to an emailed inquiry sent outside business hours.
Cyclists ride past chipmaker Nexperia’s headquarters in Nijmegen, the biggest city in Gelderland, the Netherlands’ largest province. Photo: AFP alt=Cyclists ride past chipmaker Nexperia’s headquarters in Nijmegen, the biggest city in Gelderland, the Netherlands’ largest province. Photo: AFP>
The simmering tension between Wingtech and Nexperia’s head office underscores the complexity in resolving the two sides’ dispute over the control of the Dutch chipmaker, which continues to threaten disruption in global car supply chains.
Their dispute started on September 30, when the Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs seized control of Nexperia, citing national security concerns and invoking an obscure 1952 law known as the Goods Availability Act. Nexperia was prohibited from relocating company assets without explicit permission from the Dutch government for a year.
In retaliation, China’s Ministry of Commerce on October 4 issued an export control notice that prohibited Nexperia’s China unit and its subcontractors from exporting specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in the country.
Following an emergency hearing, the Dutch Enterprise Chamber – a special court handling unique corporate law disputes in the Netherlands – on October 7 issued a ruling that ousted Nexperia CEO Zhang Xuezheng, the founder of Wingtech. Substantially all voting rights on Nexperia shares, indirectly held by Wingtech, were placed under the management of an independent administrator appointed by the chamber. Nexperia later named chief financial officer Stefan Tilger as interim CEO.
The European Commission, the primary executive branch of the European Union, last month said a “worst-case scenario” had been averted after China’s commerce ministry engaged with European companies to restart the flow of Nexperia’s chips.
Nexperia China’s production base in Dongguan, southern Guangdong province. Photo: Coco Feng alt=Nexperia China’s production base in Dongguan, southern Guangdong province. Photo: Coco Feng>
A Wingtech representative told Shanghai Securities News, a state-backed financial newspaper, that the intervention by the Dutch government in a business entity may have violated the 2001 “Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments” between the two countries.
“If the issue remains unresolved within six months, [Wingtech] may pursue international arbitration, with potential claims reaching up to US$8 billion”, the representative said.
During Friday’s meeting, Wingtech shareholders approved a proposal to name legal expert Gan Peizhong as an independent director. A retired professor from the Peking University Law School, Gan served as the head of the China Business Law Society until August.
Based in Jiaxing, in eastern Zhejiang province, Wingtech in October named experienced general counsel Sophie Shen Xinjia, a graduate of Columbia Law School in the US, as its president. Her appointment and experience reflected Wingtech’s current need to overcome issues surrounding Nexperia.
