Nexperia has withheld access to work accounts and halted salaries for its employees in China, according to local news reports citing a letter from the Chinese unit of the Dutch chipmaker, marking the latest escalation in a growing political dispute between the Netherlands and China.
The Chinese unit of Nexperia informed customers on Friday that it had been notified by headquarters that salary payments would cease and employees’ access to company systems would be suspended, according to Chinese media reports.
“We are deeply puzzled and disappointed,” the unit said in the letter, according to Chinese tech news outlet Electrans. The subsidiary said it faced “ruthless suppression” and noted that the current European management appeared to be “abandoning” the Chinese market.
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Chinese electronics manufacturer Wingtech Technology, which bought Nexperia in 2019, confirmed to local media on Saturday that the accounts of Nexperia’s China team were blocked on Friday for “unknown reasons”. It added that some accounts had since been restored.
The Dutch government seized control of Nexperia’s management earlier this month and ousted its Chinese CEO Zhang Xuezheng, citing national-security concerns. Nexperia’s former CEO Frans Scheper said on Thursday that the Dutch government “feared that Nexperia would move chip production from Europe to China”, prompting the intervention.
An employee works with a wafer in a production line of Nexperia. Photo: Reuters alt=An employee works with a wafer in a production line of Nexperia. Photo: Reuters>
Nexperia’s Chinese unit said it had resorted to “self-rescue measures” to maintain its supply for domestic customers by establishing a local supply chain, given that the European side “may cut off its systems and funding in an emergency situation”, according to Chinese media outlet Yican, citing Wingtech.
Nexperia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The move by the Dutch semiconductor company is the latest indication of escalating tensions between China and the Netherlands, which is scrambling to respond to new export controls introduced by the US last month.
The US Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees Washington’s export control policies, implemented a “50 per cent subsidiary” rule aimed at limiting exports to companies linked to entities on the US Entity List.
