‘Show of goodwill’: Netherlands suspends Cold War-era act tied to Nexperia crisis
Crisis over Chinese-owned chipmaker eases a little, but major doubts still hang over the future of a company at war with itself
In a statement on Wednesday, the Dutch economy minister said the government had held “constructive meetings with the Chinese authorities” in recent days and he was “positive about the measures already taken by the Chinese authorities to ensure the supply of chips to Europe and the rest of the world”.
“We see this as a show of goodwill. We will continue to engage in constructive dialogue with the Chinese authorities in the period ahead,” Vincent Karremans said.
The Nexperia crisis erupted in September when Dutch authorities used the act to ring-fence company assets in Europe, preventing them from being relocated to China.
Nexperia produces around 100 billion semiconductors in Europe every year and an estimated 70 per cent of the wafers then go to Dongguan in southern China for testing and packaging, before being shipped to clients as legacy chips.
Within days of the act being invoked, Beijing responded by restricting the shipment of Nexperia products from the company’s facility in China.