Chip turmoil will worsen on Nexperia spat: Wingtech chair warns

[BEIJING/FRANKFURT] Wingtech Technology chairwoman Ruby Yang warned that global chip supplies remain at risk, unless the Chinese company’s control over Dutch chipmaker Nexperia is restored.

In an interview, Yang, who took over as chair of the board in July just months before a dispute emerged, accused the Dutch government of breaching a bilateral investment treaty with China, and claimed that local managers have sought personal gain from the crisis.

“Each day the dispute continues, the damage to the global industrial chain, international investment confidence and the shareholders deepens,” Yang said. 

In her first interview with international media since the dispute became public in October, Yang rejected allegations of improperly transferring technology to China and reaffirmed demands to restore shareholder rights at Nexperia.

She claimed that the Dutch government and local executives collectively want to oust Wingtech, which has owned the Nijmegen-based chipmaker since 2019, calling the suspension of its control “a premeditated and unwarranted intervention”. 

The comments underscore the deep rifts at Nexperia, and raise questions about the stability of supplies of components that are critical to the automotive and consumer electronics industries.

Nexperia sends wafers from Europe to final assembly in Asia. Its largest facility is in China, which is not cooperating with the parent company. 

Although political tensions between China and the Dutch state have eased, the feud has continued on the corporate level. As part of the fallout, Honda Motor warned last week that it plans to halt production at plants in Japan and China in the coming weeks, because of shortages. 

At the heart of the dispute is a court decision that suspended Wingtech’s founder Zhang Xuezheng as Nexperia’s chief executive officer, and placed the Chinese firm’s shareholding rights under the control of court-appointed trustees.

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In response, Nexperia’s Chinese operations broke with headquarters in the Netherlands, which halted wafer supplies to the facility in Guangdong.

The crisis has effectively split the business into two parallel entities: one run by the court-appointed administrators in the Netherlands, and another in China aligned with Wingtech.

Since the Chinese part needs wafers and the Dutch parent needs finishing capacity, neither can entirely compensate for the loss of the other.

“It must be clearly stated that the direct and sole cause of the current supply disruption is the unilateral and unexpected halt of wafer supplies by Nexperia’s Dutch entity,” said Yang. 

While Zhang has resigned from positions at Wingtech, he remains closely involved and had earlier agreed to an interview with Bloomberg before it was rescheduled with Yang, who joined Wingtech in 2019.

She said actions by the Dutch government, including supporting the court case against Wingtech, violated a 2001 agreement with China.

After filing a notice of dispute on Oct 15, the company could seek international arbitration over the matter to seek damages if issues are not resolved within six months, added Yang, who said the claims could include the roughly US$8 billion it values Nexperia at. 

A spokesperson for the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry declined to comment, noting that the case is now with the Amsterdam Enterprise Chamber after the state suspended its order.

At the centre of the concerns over a transfer of intellectual property to China, was a plan to establish a new wafer plant in Shanghai, dubbed WingSkySemi (WSS).

Under the plans, which date from 2020, WinWorld – Wingtech’s controlling shareholder – acted as the investment entity for the project. Yang said that these plans were long part of Nexperia’s strategy, and were agreed to by Dutch managers at the centre of the dispute. 

“Ironically, the Nexperia executives who initially signed that agreement are the very same three individuals who are now accusing Wingtech of misconduct,” she said, adding that the executives have “used their dominance as the interim management to significantly raise their own salaries”.

Nexperia “categorically rejects Wingtech leadership’s insinuations that the interim management acted for personal gain”, a spokesperson for the Dutch company said.

The chipmaker also pushed back on the dispute over WSS, saying that under Zhang’s leadership, Wingtech had inflated orders to the Shanghai facility to shore up that entity’s finances, and subsequently sought the dismissal of those managers.

“We do want to take the opportunity here to repeat our call to Nexperia China and Wingtech to come to a constructive collaboration,” Dutch-based Nexperia said in response to questions.

With the dispute dragging on, Nexperia China – which accounted for about half of the company’s pre-crisis volumes – has sought to secure alternative sources of wafers in China.

Meanwhile, the Dutch side aims to expand finishing capacity at its facility in Malaysia, which demonstrates “a clear intent to decouple from China”, Yang said. 

To press its case, the Chinese company has invited court-appointed administrators for discussions, even as it appeals the Amsterdam court ruling to the Dutch Supreme Court. 

A first round of talks between Wingtech and Nexperia officials took place last week and the executives agreed to maintain communications, said China’s Ministry of Commerce, which also reiterated its accusation of “improper” intervention in Nexperia’s affairs by the Dutch government.

Despite the back-and-forth accusations, Wingtech said the issue could be quickly resolved by restoring its control over the Dutch chipmaker. “We still look forward to leading Nexperia to achieve even greater accomplishments,” Yang said. BLOOMBERG