Reuters exclusively reported that a letter sent by Nexperia to customers showed that the company could not guarantee when chip shipments from its factory in Dongguan, China would resume, nor could it ensure product quality.
The letter revealed that the supply chain was tense due to the battle for control, which affected the supply of key chips widely used in the automotive industry and other industries.
With the meeting between U.S. President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last week, auto suppliers had expected the situation to ease, as the White House sent a signal that Beijing might relax export restrictions. But on Tuesday (4th), China accused the Netherlands of not cooperating with Beijing on the matter.
According to a letter from Nexperia obtained by Reuters, "We are working as quickly as possible to clarify the scope and impact of China's relevant actions on Nexperia's factories and subcontractors in China." The letter was dated November 3.
Nexperia stated that before it regains control of the supply chain management of the Dongguan factory, it cannot determine whether and when the products there can be delivered. This letter should be considered a formal "notification of force majeure", supplementing the force majeure declaration issued on October 22.
Nexperia also pointed out that it cannot guarantee the quality and authenticity of the chips shipped from the Dongguan factory since October 13.
Nexperia’s Chinese parent company is Wingtech Technology, but its headquarters is in the Netherlands. The Dutch government was worried that Wingtech would move its operations to China, and most of Nexperia's chip packaging work was also done in China. Therefore, it took over the company on September 30, citing concerns about intellectual property rights issues involving the Chinese parent company.
Regarding the latest situation, a Wingtech spokesperson has not yet responded.
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