By Eduardo Baptista and Toby Sterling
BEIJING/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Wingtech, the Chinese parent company of Netherlands-based Nexperia, accused its Dutch unit on Friday of conspiring to build a non-Chinese supply chain and permanently strip it of its control, escalating tensions between the two sides.
In a separate statement, Nexperia’s Chinese arm demanded the Dutch business halt overseas expansion, including in Malaysia. “Abandon improper intentions to replace Chinese capacity,” Nexperia China said.
The accusations follow an open letter from Nexperia published on Thursday claiming repeated attempts to engage with its Chinese unit had failed.
Nexperia, which produces billions of chips for cars and electronics, has been in a tug-of-war since the Dutch government seized the company two months ago on economic security grounds. An Amsterdam court subsequently stripped Wingtech of control.
Beijing retaliated by halting exports of Nexperia’s finished products on October 4, leading to disruptions in global automotive supply chains.
The curbs were relaxed in early November and the Dutch government suspended the seizure last week following talks. But the court ruling remains in force.
The chipmaker’s Europe-based units and Chinese entities remain locked in a standoff. Nexperia’s Chinese arm declared itself independent from European management, which responded by stopping the shipment of wafers to the company’s plant in China.
CHINESE PARENT WARNS OF RENEWED SUPPLY CHAIN DISRUPTION
The escalating war of words casts doubt on the viability of a company-led resolution urged by China and the European Union this week.
Wingtech said on Friday that Nexperia’s Dutch unit was avoiding the issue of its “legitimate control”, making negotiations untenable.
“We need to find a way first to talk to one another constructively” a spokesperson for Nexperia’s European headquarters said on Friday.
Nexperia China said that the Dutch unit’s claim it could not contact its management was misleading, accusing it of stifling communication by deleting the email accounts of Nexperia China employees and terminating their access to IT systems.
The Chinese unit claimed that the Dutch side was engineering a breakup, citing a $300 million plan to expand a Malaysian plant, and an alleged internal goal of sourcing 90% of production outside China by mid-2026.
Wingtech warned that supply chain disruptions could return if the issue of its control remained unresolved.
“This is therefore far more than a simple corporate control dispute,” Wingtech said.
“It is a major issue with potential implications for hundreds of thousands of customers and the industrial (supply) chain security of dozens of countries.”
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Toby Sterling, and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Joe Bavier and Elaine Hardcastle)
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