By Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) – China’s commerce ministry on Saturday raised the possibility of a global semiconductor supply chain crisis due to a “new dispute” between Dutch chipmaker Nexperia and its Chinese subsidiary.
Production in the global auto industry was disrupted in October when Beijing imposed export controls on Chinese-made Nexperia chips after Haig bought the company from its Chinese parent Wingtech. Nixeria chips are widely used in automotive electronic systems.
While the chip shortage eased after diplomatic negotiations, the conflict between Nexeria’s Dutch headquarters and its China-based unit has only intensified, with the former advocating the removal of Wingtech’s control and the latter calling for its restoration.
Beijing’s warning came a day after the Dutch-based headquarters of Chinese packaging firm Nexperia accused it of deactivating office accounts for all employees in China.
“(It) has created new conflicts and created new problems and obstacles for (company-to-company) negotiations,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its official website.
The ministry added: “Nexeria Netherlands has seriously disrupted the company’s normal production and operations, and if it re-establishes the global semiconductor production and supply chain, the Netherlands must take full responsibility for this.”
In a statement on Friday, Nexeria’s Dutch subsidiary did not deny the IT action, but denied the Chinese subsidiary’s allegation that it affected production at the company’s assembly and testing center in China’s Guangdong province.
Nexeria’s Chinese subsidiary responded to Wingtech’s takeover in September by declaring itself independent of its Dutch parent. The two agencies have since been accused of bad-faith negotiations, while the Dutch headquarters have suspended wafer supplies to the Guangdong factory.
Efforts by Beijing, The Hague and Brussels to force the two into an arbitrated settlement have done little to resolve the crisis.
Beijing has accused Hague of not doing enough to secure a settlement from Nexeria’s Dutch headquarters, or end court proceedings in Amsterdam that transferred Wingtech shares to a Dutch lawyer in October.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by John Harvey)
