Dutch government puts Nexperia on a short leash over chip security fears
- Reference: 1760353262
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/10/13/nexperia_special_measures/
- Source link:
The Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs [1]invoked the Goods Availability Act in response to what it described as "recent and acute" governance shortcomings at Nexperia, which is owned by China's Wingtech Technology.
Officials warned of a "threat to the continuity and safeguarding on Dutch and European soil of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities." The ministry stated that losing these capabilities would jeopardize both Dutch and European economic security, particularly the availability of chips used in automotive and consumer electronics during emergencies.
[2]
Under the special measures, the Minister of Economic Affairs can now block or reverse Nexperia's corporate decisions if deemed harmful to the company's interests, its future as a Dutch operation, or the critical supply chain it represents.
[3]
[4]
Reports suggest the intervention may have been triggered by concerns that Nexperia was planning to transfer sensitive chip technology to its China-based parent company.
Wingtech has [5]reportedly fired back through its official WeChat account, condemning the action as "politically motivated" and driven by "geopolitical bias" rather than legitimate security concerns.
[6]
According to Wingtech, Nexperia and its global subsidiaries are now prohibited from making any changes to assets, intellectual property, operations, or personnel for one year — effectively freezing the company's worldwide operations.
It claims this is being done "under the pretext of 'national security'", yet it "constitutes excessive intervention driven by geopolitical bias, rather than a fact-based risk assessment."
[7]Nexperia sells Newport Wafer Fab to American chipmaker for $177M
[8]Nexperia left off subsidies list as Germany chips away at Chinese connection
[9]Nexperia claims Newport Wafer may close if sale goes ahead
[10]Nexperia calls in the lawyers to save Welsh chip fab deal
The Chinese firm also alleged that "certain foreign executives" within Nexperia colluded with Dutch authorities to "forcibly alter the company's ownership structure" and "usurp shareholder rights" under the guise of compliance. Wingtech expressed "strong protest against such discriminatory treatment targeting Chinese-funded enterprises."
Reg readers will recall that Nexperia was caught up in a furore over Newport Wafer Fab, Britain's largest semiconductor production plant, after [11]acquiring it in 2021 for £63 million ($76 million).
Following a belated national security review under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, the UK government forced Nexperia to divest the facility. Newport Wafer Fab was subsequently [12]sold to Pennsylvania-based Vishay Intertechnology in early 2024 for $177 million.
[13]
The Dutch intervention represents the latest example of Western nations restricting Chinese access to strategic semiconductor assets amid growing technological rivalry. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2025/10/12/minister-of-economic-affairs-invokes-goods-availability-act
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aO0iF867KEK5gRE0uP0aUwAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aO0iF867KEK5gRE0uP0aUwAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aO0iF867KEK5gRE0uP0aUwAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.pekingnology.com/p/dutch-govt-accused-of-freezing-operations
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aO0iF867KEK5gRE0uP0aUwAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/09/nexperia_sells_newport_wafer_fab/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/09/germany_nexperia_subsidies/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/28/nexperia_claims_newport_wafer_may/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/newport_nexperia_china/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/07/uk_newport_wafer_fab_probe/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/09/nexperia_sells_newport_wafer_fab/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aO0iF867KEK5gRE0uP0aUwAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Almost every time government wakes up to this, they are faced with amnesia inducing brown envelope.
Re: Brown envelope
"Almost every time government wakes up to this, they are faced with amnesia inducing brown envelope."
The plans of Wingtech involve closure of 4 quite visible factories in the Netherlands. This political action is highly unusual, a first in the Netherlands, and it also looks like the intelligence services are involved.
With national and local elections coming up, resolution by brown envelopes sounds rather unlikely.
Pot, meet kettle
"The Chinese firm also alleged that "certain foreign executives" within Nexperia colluded with Dutch authorities to "forcibly alter the company's ownership structure" and "usurp shareholder rights" under the guise of compliance. Wingtech expressed "strong protest against such discriminatory treatment targeting Chinese-funded enterprises.""
That's the new world order. China, Russia, the USA, all have forced "transfer of ownership" of domestic and foreign companies into "friendly" hands. The Netherlands too have the relevant laws in the books, in this case since the 1950's. So, it now hits back at a Chinese company.
NXP is not an obscure, uninteresting company for the EU, as its components are widely used in, eg, (commercial) infrastructure (and military stuff, I assume).
After the Dutch found out that non-Dutch Huawei employees have had "undocumented" unlimited access to all Dutch telecom infrastructure for years, the feelings towards foreign owned companies have changed. Given this recent history, the leadership of Wingtech might have been more prudent and transparent in their plans with such an important company if they really were not up to anything dodgy.
The formulation of the press release of Wingtech suggests that they were found red-handed with their hands still in the cookie jar. They protests too much.
Re: Pot, meet kettle
Slight correction: Nexperia is not NXP (anymore).
Re: NExperia not NXP
The news reports I can find point out that the Dutch action relates to the (former) [1]NXP chip factory in Nijmegen . But I understand that Nexperia split off from NXP.
That change seems to have not been internalized well in the Netherlands as all news reports I know still described the plant in Nijmegen as "NXP" even last spring, as do the locals.
The sticking point might be the planned closure of four Dutch plants by Wingtech. That would be a dangerous development for the Netherlands.
[1] https://www.gld.nl/nieuws/8378355/kabinet-grijpt-in-bij-nijmeegs-chipbedrijf-nexperia
Re: Pot, meet kettle
"After the Dutch found out that non-Dutch Huawei employees have had "undocumented" unlimited access to all Dutch telecom infrastructure for years, the feelings towards foreign owned companies have changed."
In the mobile telecoms world it has *not* been unusual in many OpCos for the infrastructure vendors to perform day-to-day operations of their supplied equipment.
Indeed many OpCos have lost the skills (i.e. got rid of some/many technical staff) to be able to run their own network.
For these vendors performing such operations activities would involve remote access (instead of, or in addition to, on-site access) to the OpCos' infrastructure, which means that Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, etc have remote access and I doubt such access is restricted to in-country remote access.
Re: Remote access
"For these vendors performing such operations activities would involve remote access (instead of, or in addition to, on-site access) to the OpCos' infrastructure, which means that Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, etc have remote access and I doubt such access is restricted to in-country remote access."
Indeed, but that did not sit well with our military and politicians after they found out. No one was charged or convicted for it AFAIK. Still, it put the mind of politicians and the administration towards keeping a better eye on the industry.
Finally governments are waking up to the thought that some things could be of national strategic significance. It's just too bad they didn't work that out a lot earlier.