The Dutch government has placed Nexperia, a Chinese-owned semiconductor company that previously operated Britain’s Newport Wafer Fab, under special administrative measures, citing what the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs described as serious governance failures that threaten European technological security.
The ministry said it invoked the Goods Availability Act in response to “recent and acute” governance shortcomings at Nexperia, which is owned by China’s Wingtech Technology.
The ministry warned of a “threat to the continuity and safeguarding on Dutch and European soil of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities,” and said losing these capabilities would jeopardize Dutch and European economic security, particularly the availability of chips used in automotive and consumer electronics during emergencies.
Under the special measures, the Minister of Economic Affairs can block or reverse corporate decisions by Nexperia if they are judged harmful to the company’s interests, its future as a Dutch operation, or the critical supply chain it represents. Reports suggested the intervention may have been prompted by concerns that Nexperia planned to transfer sensitive chip technology to its China-based parent.
Wingtech has reportedly fired back through its official WeChat account, condemning the action as “politically motivated” and driven by “geopolitical bias” rather than legitimate security concerns. The company said Nexperia and its global subsidiaries are now prohibited from making changes to assets, intellectual property, operations, or personnel for one year, effectively freezing the company’s worldwide operations.
Wingtech also alleged that “certain foreign executives” within Nexperia colluded with Dutch authorities to “forcibly alter the company’s ownership structure” and “usurp shareholder rights,” and expressed “strong protest against such discriminatory treatment targeting Chinese-funded enterprises,” according to the company statement quoted in the article.
The article noted that Nexperia’s acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab in 2021 later became the subject of national security review in the UK and that the site was subsequently sold to an American buyer in early 2024. The Dutch intervention was described in the article as part of a wider pattern of Western measures restricting Chinese access to strategic semiconductor assets amid growing technological rivalry.