Dutch minister admits being blindsided by China’s retaliation in Nexperia chip crisis
Karremans faces criticism after Beijing choked off chip flows and scrutiny of his move to invoke a Cold War-era security law
Export controls may have been the economic weapon of choice in 2025, but the Dutch minister at the centre of the Nexperia crisis has admitted he was blindsided by Beijing when it blocked the company’s chips from leaving China.
“An assessment was made of possible counterreactions; this wasn’t the most likely reaction from China,” said Vincent Karremans, the Dutch economy minister, during a debate on the Nexperia saga in the House of Representatives on Thursday evening.
It is there that 70 per cent of its estimated 10 billion legacy chips are tested and packaged each year – an obvious chokepoint at a time when they have been mercilessly exploited by major superpowers.
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During a long hearing, Karremans – whose behaviour was described variously as “reckless”, “sloppy” and “amateurish” – was quizzed on why he did not predict Beijing’s response, which caused some global auto giants to idle production lines due to a shortage of chips.