By Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING, March 7 (Reuters) – China’s commerce ministry on Saturday raised the possibility of another global semiconductor supply chain crisis due to “new conflicts” between Dutch chipmaker Nexperia and its Chinese subsidiary.
Production across the global auto industry was disrupted in October when Beijing imposed export controls on Chinese-made Nexperia chips after The Hague seized the company from its Chinese parent Wingtech. Nexperia’s chips are widely used in cars’ electronic systems.
While the chip shortage has eased after diplomatic negotiations, the conflict between Nexperia’s Dutch headquarters and its China-based unit has only intensified, with the former supporting the removal of Wingtech’s control and the latter demanding this be restored.
Beijing’s warning on Saturday came a day after Nexperia’s Chinese packaging arm accused Netherlands-based headquarters of disabling office accounts for all employees in China.
“(This has) provoked new conflicts and created new difficulties and obstacles for (company-to-company) negotiations,” China’s commerce ministry said in a statement published on its official website.
“Nexperia Netherlands has seriously disrupted the company’s normal production and operation, and if this triggers a global semiconductor production and supply chain crisis again, the Netherlands must bear full responsibility for this,” the ministry added.
In a statement on Friday Nexperia’s Dutch entity did not deny the IT action, but disputed the Chinese subsidiary’s allegation that this had affected production at the company’s assembly and testing facility in China’s Guangdong province.
Nexperia’s Chinese subsidiary responded to the removal of Wingtech’s control in September by declaring itself independent of its Dutch parent. Both entities have since traded accusations of bad-faith negotiating, while the Dutch headquarters has suspended wafer supply to the Guangdong plant.
Efforts from Beijing, The Hague, and Brussels to push both to a mediated resolution have done little to resolve the impasse.
Beijing has accused The Hague of not doing enough to force compromise from Nexperia’s Netherlands headquarters, or end court proceedings in Amsterdam that transferred Wingtech’s shares to a Dutch lawyer in October.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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