When Dutch authorities seized control of chipmaker Nexperia almost two months ago, it resulted in a clash between the head office in Nijmegen and the company’s mainland China unit, which vowed to operate and meet orders as an independent enterprise.
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That dispute also exposed the vulnerability of global car supply chains, as any disruption in Nexperia’s shipments of so-called legacy chips would affect nearly every major European carmaker, as well as those in Japan and the United States.
Here are the milestones of the Nexperia crisis:
September 29
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) under the US Department of Commerce extended export control restrictions to entities at least 50 per cent owned by companies on Washington’s trade blacklist. Nexperia became subject to US sanctions because it was wholly owned by Wingtech Technology, which was added to the blacklist in December last year.
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September 30
The Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs seized control of Nexperia, citing national security concerns and invoking an obscure 1952 law known as the Goods Availability Act. Nexperia was prohibited from relocating company assets without explicit permission from the Dutch government for a year.