In a sign of worsening disruption to the global semiconductor supply chain, the main Dongguan assembly plant of Nexperia – the China-owned, Netherlands-based chipmaker – has sharply scaled down production in recent days, reducing working hours and idling one third of the machines in one part of the production area.
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Three employees said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Monday that the company had reduced monthly working hours, while another said his daily shift was operating at reduced hours.
Another worker said around one-third of the machines on his production floor had been idle for about a week because of a shortage of wafers normally supplied by Nexperia’s fabs in Germany and the United Kingdom.
“The machines rarely stopped. They were kept running even during holidays,” the worker said, adding that the stoppage was highly unusual.
The disruption at the Dongguan site – which produces about 70 per cent of Nexperia’s products – follows the Dutch government’s seizure of control of the company from its Chinese parent, Wingtech Technology, late last month.
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In response, Beijing imposed export controls on products from the Dongguan factory, while Nexperia China publicly rejected directives from its Netherlands headquarters, declaring to employees and customers that it would continue operating independently.
The stand-off between the Dutch head office and the Chinese plant has fuelled concerns of supply-chain disruption across the automotive industry, one of Nexperia’s key client bases from Europe to Japan.