European Automakers Are Catching Collateral Damage From Washington and Beijing

The Dutch government’s decision to seize control of chipmaker Nexperia has roiled Europe’s auto industry. On September 30, The Hague invoked the rarely used Goods Availability Act to take oversight of Nexperia, citing “serious governance shortcomings” and the risk of technology transfer to its Chinese owner, Wingtech.

Bloomberg reports Chinese authorities have retaliated with export restrictions on Nexperia’s Chinese outputs, effectively blocking certain finished chip and sub-assembly shipments integral to European automotive electronics supply chains. The company produces discrete semiconductors and simpler logic and MOSFET components.

The European Auto Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) is yelling that delays in chip delivery will effectively halt vehicle production—without the needed components, suppliers cannot complete modules for assembly, and without those modules, vehicles cannot be assembled.

BMW, Volkswagen, and Bosch confirmed the risks to Reuters, but confirmed production at their factories is still online, though supply is being closely monitored. Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are also believed to be affected.

VW said Nexperia is not a direct supplier to any of the brands in the Volkswagen Group, but that some of the company's parts are used in vehicle components supplied by others. BMW is more exposed to the issue than VW—it confirmed that part of its supplier network is already under pressure due to the restrictions on Nexperia. Key components like semiconductors used in safety modules are from the company.

Nexperia is headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, with front-end facilities in Hamburg and Greater Manchester. Its parent company, Wingtech, a Chinese firm, became subject to U.S. export-control rules when it was added to the entity list in December 2024.

According to CNN, Nexperia’s CEO, Zhang Xuezheng, was suspended following the Dutch intervention—a court order was issued to appoint a non-Chinese executive with a deciding vote on corporate governance. American officials reportedly told the Dutch government that Zhang needed to be replaced if the company was to be removed from the U.S. list of restricted companies.

[Images: BMW]

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