China’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday said it is looking to exempt some Nexperia orders from an export ban that it imposed after the Netherlands seized control of the Chinese-owned Dutch chipmaker.
“We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of enterprises and grant exemptions to exports that meet the criteria,” a ministry representative said in a statement.
According to the ministry, exemptions were being considered to stabilise the supply of Nexperia chips in global supply chains. It encouraged affected companies to reach out and request such an exemption.
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Beijing’s latest action reflects some of the inroads made between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, during their meeting on Thursday in Busan, South Korea.
A report by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday said Nexperia would resume sending chips under a framework agreement reached during the Xi-Trump talks.
After the meeting, the Ministry of Commerce said Washington would temporarily halt the implementation of its so-called 50 per cent subsidiary rule.
Introduced in late September, the rule expanded US export restrictions to any company that was at least 50 per cent owned by entities on Washington’s trade blacklist. Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of Nexperia, was added to the blacklist in December last year.
The facade of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia’s Chinese manufacturing facility in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province. Photo: Coco Feng alt=The facade of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia’s Chinese manufacturing facility in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province. Photo: Coco Feng>
In response to Dutch authorities’ takeover of Nexperia on September 30, citing national security concerns, Beijing on October 4 issued a ban on Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting finished components produced in the country.
About 70 per cent of all Nexperia products are assembled in its factory in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province.
Beijing’s one-year export ban was expected to complicate efforts to settle the row over Nexperia, a critical supplier of semiconductors for automotive, industrial, mobile and consumer applications.
In the Ministry of Commerce statement on Saturday, China also denounced the Netherlands for “inappropriately intervening in corporate affairs” after it seized control of Nexperia, which has led to “a global supply chain turmoil”.
