# Dutch government takes control of Nexperia over governance concerns
Event date: October 13, 2025.
The Dutch government has taken effective control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia after invoking the rarely used Goods Availability Act in response to governance concerns.
According to the AP report, the intervention was described by the Dutch ministry of economic affairs as a “highly exceptional” move. The ministry said shortcomings in corporate governance posed a potential risk to European economic security and to the continuity of crucial technological knowledge and capabilities on Dutch and European soil.
Nexperia is based in Nijmegen and makes semiconductors used in the automotive and consumer technology industries. Its owner, Wingtech Technology, is a Chinese company. The Dutch government said its goal was to prevent a situation in which Nexperia’s chips could become unavailable in an emergency, while also stating that regular production could continue.
The move gives the minister of economic affairs power to block or reverse company decisions if they are potentially harmful to the firm, its future as a Dutch and European enterprise or Europe’s critical value chain. That is a broad and unusual intervention, and the AP report notes that the Dutch government provided few details beyond its warning about governance and security.
Wingtech rejected the move in public comments, calling it politicized and based on geopolitical bias rather than a fact-based risk assessment. The company said the action temporarily restricted its control over Nexperia and that it would pursue legal remedies. Wingtech shares fell by the daily limit in Shanghai after the announcement.
The decision lands in the middle of wider tensions between China and Western governments over advanced technology and chip control. The AP report links the Dutch action to earlier restrictions involving Nexperia and Wingtech, including a blocked attempt in Britain to buy Newport Wafer Fab in 2023 and a U.S. export-control listing of Wingtech last year.
The European Commission said it was in close contact with Dutch authorities and would work with them on next steps. China’s foreign ministry criticized the move as an overreach of national security concepts and said countries should avoid politicizing economic and trade issues.
The evidence supports a story about strategic industrial intervention: the Netherlands stepped in because it saw a risk to key chip capabilities, while the company and Beijing rejected that rationale. What happens next will likely depend on legal challenges, diplomacy and the government’s continuing use of its new leverage over the business.
