Dutch Hand Back Control of Chinese-Owned Chipmaker Nexperia (bloomberg.com) 12
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The Dutch government suspended its powers over chipmaker Nexperia, restoring control to its Chinese owner (paywalled; alternative source) and defusing a standoff with Beijing that had begun to hamper automotive production around the world. The order that gave the Netherlands powers to block or revise decisions at Nexperia was dropped as "a show of goodwill," Economic Affairs Minister Vincent Karremans said Wednesday in a post on social media site X.
Bloomberg had reported earlier this month that the Netherlands was prepared to take the step if chip deliveries from the company's site in China could be confirmed. The move marks a significant de-escalation of a dispute that underscored the global nature of supply chains and highlighted Beijing's growing leverage. Even though Nexperia's chips aren't advanced and the company only operates one facility in China, the spat disrupted automakers from Honda Motor Co. to Volkswagen AG.
The reversal by the Dutch government was set in motion after a breakthrough in talks earlier that involved Chinese and Dutch officials, with input from Germany, the European Union as well as the US. To help resolve the stalemate, Beijing agreed to loosen export restrictions from Nexperia's Chinese plant, the largest of its kind in the world. The Dutch economic affairs ministry sent a delegation to Beijing this week to negotiate a "mutually agreeable solution," according to a ministry statement.
Bloomberg had reported earlier this month that the Netherlands was prepared to take the step if chip deliveries from the company's site in China could be confirmed. The move marks a significant de-escalation of a dispute that underscored the global nature of supply chains and highlighted Beijing's growing leverage. Even though Nexperia's chips aren't advanced and the company only operates one facility in China, the spat disrupted automakers from Honda Motor Co. to Volkswagen AG.
The reversal by the Dutch government was set in motion after a breakthrough in talks earlier that involved Chinese and Dutch officials, with input from Germany, the European Union as well as the US. To help resolve the stalemate, Beijing agreed to loosen export restrictions from Nexperia's Chinese plant, the largest of its kind in the world. The Dutch economic affairs ministry sent a delegation to Beijing this week to negotiate a "mutually agreeable solution," according to a ministry statement.
hard to tell who's winning (Score:3)
Official Dutch media reporting (use your favorite translation engine if you don't read Dutch): https://nos.nl/artikel/2591178... [nos.nl]
Re: (Score:1)
Just know that nationalizing a company like it's a 1950s socialist country is extremely bad behavior. And no nation would allow that shit without causing a huge ruckus. But the Dutch are pretty much the US's bitch. They tried to nationalize the company when the US basically told them to (court hearings pretty much say that), and then when the US said they didn't have to anymore, they hand it back. Now the Netherlands look like dumb fucks who are as capricious about how they go about things as Trump.
Re:hard to tell who's winning (Score:4, Interesting)
ASML is the center of semiconductor lithography on the back of several patents controlled by the US Government, and that control is cemented in many international treaties that the Netherlands are a party to.
Pissing off the US means losing those patents, which means the Dutch lose their position in the center of the world's advanced semiconductor business.
When the US is a rational actor, there's give and take here. But since the US is Crazy Eddie as fuck right now, the rational move is to play ball with the hegemon.
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty odd to complain about the Dutch being the US' bitch on an article on how they just bent over to the Chinese.
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty odd to complain about the Dutch being the US' bitch on an article on how they just bent over to the Chinese.
Who said bent over? What were the terms of the agreement? You seem to be in the know. The de-escalation was always going to end with the major points of returning control and resuming shipments. State control of the company was never a goal.
So what was negotiated? Please tell us all the terms since you're so certain someone "bent over".
Re: (Score:2)
Who's complaining?
UK and Dutch action against Nexperia happened after the US listed their parent company WingTech under its export control Entity List.
That list has implications for foreign entities using US-controlled IP as well.
If the Dutch "bent over" for the Chinese, it was not without US blessing.
Re: (Score:2)
However, the Dutch are in a spot of being... mmmh, vulnerable to US ire, due to ASML.
Dutch action followed the listing of WingTech (Nexperia's owned) under the US export control Entity List.
Re: (Score:2)
Just know that nationalizing a company like it's a 1950s socialist country is extremely bad behavior. And no nation would allow that shit without causing a huge ruckus.
Just know that in the action of taking over a foreign company, embezzling the riches of it, using it as a base for industrial espionage in the wider European industry, and then firing many locals at the behest of a foreign government is extremely bad behaviour. And no nation would allow that shit without causing a huge ruckus... which is what happened.
Your one sided take on this is incredibly telling.
But the Dutch are pretty much the US's bitch. They tried to nationalize the company when the US basically told them to
They said nothing of the sort, and the USA didn't even know who the fuck Nexperia are. They had zero to do w
Re: (Score:1)
Embezzling the riches of it? Are you insane. Nothing Nexperia was doing was cutting edge. Everything was old tech. The only reason why there was any issue was because the US decided to put Wingtech under export control. To say that US had nothing to do with the situation even though the court filings/hearings stated so means you have no clue about the situation. The minute that Trump made a deal with Xi late October, newspaper articles were already saying that the Netherlands no longer had to nationalize N
say what? (Score:2)
What? What is that Dutch hand doing again?