THE HAGUE — Dutch Economy Minister Vincent Karremans said Sunday he will meet with a senior Chinese official within days to discuss the deepening Nexperia chipmaker dispute, a clash that has unsettled global auto supply chains and added a new strain to Europe’s complex relationship with Beijing.
Karremans told the Dutch TV program Buitenhof that the decision to take control of Nexperia NV a Netherlands based chipmaker owned by China’s Wingtech Technology was not coordinated with Washington but driven by concerns about European technological security.
“The Chinese believe we acted alongside the Americans,” Karremans said. “But our intervention was to prevent the transfer of sensitive operations and intellectual property out of Europe. We depend on each other, so everyone has an interest in solving this dispute together.”
On September 30, the Netherlands seized operational control of Nexperia, invoking its 1952 Goods Availability Act, which allows government action in cases where critical infrastructure or industries face risk.
Nexperia, a major supplier of small and mid range semiconductors, plays an essential role in global automotive and electronics manufacturing.
Its chips are not advanced AI components, but they are used in vast quantities for vehicle sensors, power systems, and everyday electronic devices.
The company’s main production hub is in Hamburg, Germany, while most of its chips are sent to China for packaging and distribution.
The move by The Hague prompted an immediate response from Beijing, which banned exports of Nexperia’s finished products, disrupting supply chains across Europe and Asia.
Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce said the seizure “violates fair market principles” and urged the Netherlands to reverse its decision. However, Dutch officials maintain the action was taken to protect European assets, not to target China.
Technology and geopolitics collide
Analysts say the Nexperia chipmaker dispute highlights the growing friction between national security concerns and globalized manufacturing.
“This is not about high end chips it’s about reliability,” said Dr. Lena Voigt, a semiconductor policy researcher at the University of Amsterdam.
When one country controls packaging, and another controls production, you create a web of dependency that politics can easily disrupt.
Trade expert Wei Lian from Tsinghua University said China sees the Dutch move as part of a broader Western containment effort. “From Beijing’s view, every restriction on Chinese owned technology companies adds to a pattern of exclusion,” he said.
European analysts argue the dispute reveals how deeply entangled China and Europe are in semiconductor manufacturing. “Europe relies on China for packaging and logistics, while China relies on Europe for design and quality control,” said tech strategist Marcus Schulz. “This makes both sides vulnerable and equally motivated to de escalate.”
Nexperia reported $331 million in net profit in 2024, underscoring its financial importance to parent company Wingtech.
Around 70% of Nexperia’s chips are produced in Germany, then shipped to China for packaging and global distribution.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, over one third of automotive semiconductors used in Europe come from factories linked to China.
The Netherlands is the home of ASML, the world’s leading lithography equipment supplier further placing the country at the center of global chip tensions.
By comparison, past chip related interventions such as US restrictions on Huawei or Japan’s export curbs on South Korea mainly targeted high performance computing technologies.
The Nexperia chipmaker dispute differs because it concerns mid level chips vital to everyday manufacturing, not military or AI grade systems.
In Hamburg, workers at Nexperia’s factory say they feel caught between two governments. “We just want to keep doing our jobs,” said Anna Müller, a technician who has worked at the plant for nearly a decade.
“Nobody here thinks about politics, but suddenly our work has become a geopolitical issue.” In China, an engineer at Nexperia’s Shanghai site described uncertainty over the company’s future.
“Production is continuing, but everyone is worried about what happens next,” he said. “We have orders we can’t ship and no timeline for when the ban will end.”
Automotive companies are also watching anxiously. “If Nexperia’s chips remain blocked, we will face shortages by the end of the year,” said a senior supply manager at a European carmaker, requesting anonymity. “These are not high margin components, but losing them can halt entire production lines.”
Europe’s semiconductor dilemma
The dispute comes as the European Union pushes to strengthen its chip making capacity under the European Chips Act, aiming to double Europe’s share of the global semiconductor market by 2030.
However, experts warn that Europe’s dependency on China for assembly, testing, and raw materials limits its autonomy.
“Europe wants to be independent, but complete decoupling is unrealistic,” said Elise van den Berg, a policy analyst at the Brussels based Bruegel Institute.
“The Netherlands’ case shows how quickly industrial policy becomes foreign policy.” Washington has privately supported the Dutch decision but is avoiding direct involvement.
US officials have urged allied nations to tighten export controls on Chinese tech investments, though Karremans insists the Netherlands acted alone.
The upcoming meeting between Karremans and his Chinese counterpart is expected to focus on lifting export restrictions and setting ground rules for Nexperia’s governance under Dutch supervision.
Both sides have incentives to reach a deal. China’s own electric vehicle manufacturers depend on Nexperia’s chips, while Europe needs uninterrupted supplies for its car industry.
“There’s pressure on both governments to find a workable middle ground,” Schulz said. Still, analysts warn that trust will take time to rebuild.
“Even if the immediate crisis is resolved, the precedent is set,” Voigt said. “Governments now know they can intervene in semiconductor firms whenever they see risk real or perceived.”
The Nexperia chipmaker dispute has become a test of how far nations are willing to go to protect their industrial assets amid rising global technology tensions.
As the Dutch minister prepares for talks with Beijing, both governments face the challenge of balancing security concerns with economic reality.
For the global auto industry and the thousands of workers who depend on Nexperia’s chips the stakes are high.
The world is watching to see whether diplomacy can keep the supply chains that power modern life from breaking apart.