October 15, 2025
This is a a story about a fight between titans in which Europe, due to its leaders stupidity, is the most significant casualty.
Dutch government seizes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia - Politico.eu, Oct 13 2025
The move could inflame wider trade tensions between Beijing and the European Union.
The Dutch government has granted itself the power to intervene in company decisions at Dutch-based Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia.
The highly unusual step, announced late Sunday, grants the country the power to "halt and reverse" company decisions - meaning Nexperia cannot transfer assets or hire executives without Dutch government approval, according to national media.
The move is a significant escalation in relations between the Netherlands and China and could inflame wider trade tensions between Beijing and the European Union, with Europe caught in the middle of a tit-for-tat chips war between the U.S. and China.
The Dutch have effectively stolen a big Chinese owned company.
The background via Pekingology:
Wingtech Technology is a privately-run, Shanghai-listed Chinese electronics and semiconductor conglomerate headquartered in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. It began as an original design manufacturer (ODM) for smartphones and consumer devices and has since grown into one of China's most prominent integrated technology companies, combining electronics assembly, chip design, and semiconductor manufacturing.
Wingtech in 2019 acquired Nexperia, a Dutch semiconductor firm that was formerly part of Philips' chip division, NXP. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Nexperia is a global semiconductor company with a rich European history and over 12,500 employees across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
In December 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Wingtech to its Entity List, restricting its access to American components and technology. The U.S. unilateral sanctions threatened heavy losses and forced the Apple supplier to announce, in March 2025, the spin-off of a major part of its operations.
Zhang Xuefeng is the founder of Wingtech and CEO of Nexperia, which closed the 2024 financial year with a total revenue of $2.06 billion.
A successful businessman from China bought the Dutch company. He invested heavily and the company grew with several research and manufacturing sides throughout Europe and the world. The company paid a lot of taxes and the Dutch were happy.
In late 2024 Wingtech was put on the U.S. entity list to block Chinese semiconductor development by cutting it off from U.S. products and technology licenses.
In June 2024 the U.S. planned to extend the entity list. Not only would chip companies in China be prohibited from use of U.S. content but any international company that was 50% or more owned by a Chinese entity would likewise be penalized.
On September 30 2025 the U.S. Commerce Department extended its export restrictions:
A U.S. Commerce Department interim final rule vastly expands the number of entities subject to export control restrictions by extending the Entity List and MEU List restrictions to non-U.S. entities 50% or more owned, directly or indirectly, by listed parties effective as of September 29, 2025.
(The new Chinese export controls on rare earth metals and certain other technologies are a direct response to those new U.S. restrictions.)
The U.S. move cut of Nexperia and other partially Chinese owned companies in Europe from U.S. content.
The Dutch government, which had been forewarned and pressed by the U.S., panicked:
US officials told their Dutch counterparts that the Chinese CEO of Nexperia "will have to be replaced" for the company to be exempt from Washington's entity list, newly disclosed court documents show.
The disclosure comes after the Dutch government effectively seized control of the semiconductor firm, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Wingtech, forcing a change in management under an obscure law known as the Goods Availability Act.
In doing so, the Dutch authorities removed founding CEO Zhang Xuezheng from his role, sparking fury in Beijing.
Court documents released by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal on Tuesday show that the United States told Dutch officials in June about a forthcoming change in the entity list, which bars American companies from trading with firms on the list.
On Sunday October 12, after the company was seized, Wingtech dropped a bombshell filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It describes how Nexperia's 2nd level management, under Dutch government pressure, deposed of the Chief Executive Officer and owner of the company:
On 1 October 2025 (Netherlands time), Ruben Lichtenberg, a Dutch national who serves as the statutory director and Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of both Nexperia Holding and Nexperia Semiconductor, filed-with the support of two other executives, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Stefan Tilger and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Achim Kempe, both German nationals-an urgent petition before the Enterprise Chamber requesting a corporate investigation and immediate provisional measures on behalf of both Nexperia entities.
On the same day, the Enterprise Chamber granted several emergency measures immediately, without a hearing, which took effect at once. These measures included suspending Mr. Zhang Xuezheng from his positions as executive officer of Nexperia Holding and non-executive director of Nexperia Semiconductor; suspending the operation of Article 3 of the Board Rules of Nexperia Semiconductor, which defines the CEO's duties and authorities; and placing all shares held by Wingtech subsidiary 裕成控股有限公司 Yuching Holding Limited (a Hong Kong-registered company and the sole shareholder of Nexperia Holding) under temporary management by an independent third-party trustee for management purposes, effective until the Enterprise Chamber's oral hearing scheduled for 6 October 2025 and its subsequent ruling on the request for immediate relief.
Wingtech's official WeChat blog released a scathing announcement, which was widely distributed in China.
Internal Legal Actions Are a Malicious Extension of External Pressure
Certain foreign executives within Nexperia have attempted to use legal means to forcibly alter the company's ownership structure.
Their actions are closely aligned with the Dutch government's administrative directives and, in essence, represent an effort to usurp shareholder rights and subvert lawful corporate governance under the guise of "compliance."
We strongly condemn such politically motivated attempts to seize control.
We Will Resolutely Defend Our Lawful Rights
...
Today the Chinese government reacted to the Dutch raid of the Chinese owned company by cutting it off from Chinese technologies and products:
Chipmaker Nexperia, a subsidiary of China's Wingtech Technology and a major supplier of mature chips for the automotive and consumer electronics sectors, announced on Tuesday that it has been banned by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce from exporting products made in China, including those produced by its subcontractors, after the Dutch government took over the company using a Cold-War-era law to secure Europe's chip supply.
Nexperia said it is seeking an exemption from the export ban, which could affect Dutch access to its chips. The company operates an 80,000-square-meter assembly site in Guangdong province near Hong Kong, as well as fabrication, assembly, and testing facilities in Germany, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Britain.
If the Dutch government does not retract its decision to practically confiscate Nexperia the company will die. Its business is globalized. Parts of its products are made all over the world. Its products and sales in Europe depend on subcontractor products which are made in China.
The company is important to Europe. It produces some 90 billion bread and butter components per year which flow into other higher value European products. Sure, other Chinese companies will be happy to replace those parts. But where is the win for the Netherlands or Europe in that?
In the trade war between U.S. and China Europe should have stayed neutral. It should not have buckled under pressure from either side but rely on its own substantial trade powers to stay out of the fight. It is a fight in which the U.S. has no chance to win.
It was a huge mistake by the Dutch to submit to U.S. demands and to seize Nexperia. It was a huge mistake for Europe to submit to U.S. demands.
The minions leading Europe who have allowed for this deserve to be fired over their utter strategic stupidity.
Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.