Major car, van, truck and bus manufacturers are warning that the Dutch government placing semiconductor biz Nexperia under special administrative measures could result in a shortage of automotive chips.
The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) - comprised of 15 members including BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover and Renault - voiced concern about significant disruption unless the situation can be resolved quickly.
US trade body the Alliance for Automotive Innovation is understood to have expressed similar disquiet.
According to Nexperia, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued an export control notice prohibiting the company's Chinese subsidiary and its subcontractors from shipping abroad specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in the Middle Kingdom.
Nexperia is a key high-volume supplier of parts used in the electronic control units of vehicles produced by many manufacturers. Its main semiconductor fabrication plant is in Hamburg, Germany, but many of the chips produced there are sent to China to be packaged and assembled into finished products.
The move by China's MOC is in retaliation to the Netherlands' Ministry of Economic Affairs' decision on Monday to invoke the Goods Availability Act over what it described as governance shortcomings at Nexperia, which is owned by China's Wingtech Technology.
The Dutch Enterprise Chamber suspended Nexperia's Chinese CEO, Zhang Xuezheng, and prohibited the company from relocating company assets, making changes to personnel, or taking other decisions without explicit permission from the Dutch government for a period of a year.
Nexperia says it is actively engaging with the Chinese authorities to obtain an exemption from the restrictions on exporting its chips, and has deployed all available resources to that end. Nexperia is understood to be talking to all relevant national and local government authorities to mitigate the impact of the situation.
ACEA warned that without some of these chips, European automotive suppliers cannot produce the parts and components needed to supply car makers, meaning the threat of production stoppages is looming.
As with many things, it appears the Trump administration is in some connected to this mess. According to the Financial Times, published correspondence between the Dutch economy ministry and Wingtech revealed that US officials had applied pressure on Amsterdam to ringfence Nexperia's European operations from those of its Chinese parent.
- Dutch government puts Nexperia on a short leash over chip security fears
- Nexperia sells Newport Wafer Fab to American chipmaker for $177M
- Nexperia left off subsidies list as Germany chips away at Chinese connection
- Nexperia claims Newport Wafer may close if sale goes ahead
Last mnonth, the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) within the Department of Commerce issued a rule extending export restrictions to any organization more than 50 percent controlled by one or more entities on the US Entity List.
While Nexperia was not explicitly mentioned, the company is affected because it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wingtech, which was placed on the Entity List in December 2024.
Reg readers will no doubt recall the chip shortages that afflicted automakers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic a few years back. This happened after the car industry slashed orders for chips in response to falling demand for new vehicles, causing the semiconductor companies to switch production to other products instead. When vehicle sales picked up again, there weren't enough chips to meet the demand.
The auto industry says it has learned from that incident, but there are limits to resilience.
"Automakers have taken steps over the last few years to diversify supply chains, but risk cannot be mitigated down to zero. This is a cross-industry issue affecting a large number of suppliers and virtually all of our members," ACEA Director General Sigrid de Vries said in a statement. "We suddenly find ourselves in this alarming situation. We really need quick and pragmatic solutions from all countries involved." ®