A Chinese court’s order to freeze 2.14 billion yuan (US$318 million) in Nexperia-affiliated assets has cemented the operational independence of its Chinese manufacturing engine from its European headquarters, leaving its local facilities increasingly isolated amid a prolonged custody battle.
The Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court in the southern province of Guangdong, where Nexperia’s biggest assembly and test plant is located, has frozen the equity interests in four subsidiaries owned by the Dutch firm, Wingtech said in a Monday filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, equity interests in another Chinese entity owned by Itec BV, a chip tool maker spun off from Nexperia in 2021, have also been frozen.
The ruling, affecting 2.14 billion yuan worth of combined assets across the cities of Dongguan, Shanghai and Wuxi, is due to last for three years, until August 2029.
The move is designed to “protect Chinese subsidiaries’ assets from being transferred or pledged as collateral”, while their daily operations would not be affected, said Luo Zhiyu, a partner at the DeHeng Law Offices in Beijing who specialises in cross-border transactions and overseas listings.
The order marks a major development in the saga that saw Wingtech file a lawsuit against Nexperia and three of its executives in May under China’s anti-foreign sanctions law, demanding the restoration of full control over Nexperia and 8 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion) in compensation. The case has not yet gone to trial.
The asset freeze may be revoked after the case proceeds to a court ruling, Luo said. It typically takes three months for the intermediate court to issue a ruling after a hearing is scheduled, though appeals could push the timeline to months or years, he added.
Lawyers Yuan Yao and Ge Jingyi at Shanghai-based Joint-Win Partners estimated that the process could take several months if the most optimistic scenario plays out and the two sides reach a settlement. However, if the case were to proceed through normal litigation, it could take one to three years, “or even longer”, they said.
Nexperia said in a statement on Monday that the court measures related “solely to entities in China that have been operating outside” its governance structures since October, adding that it was “reviewing the court order and its available legal options”.
Itec did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The saga began last September when the Dutch government intervened to restrict Wingtech’s control over the chipmaker – a decision that was later suspended. But in early October, a Dutch court ousted Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezheng as Nexperia CEO.
The power struggle has led to a virtual break-up of Nexperia’s China team – responsible for about 70 per cent of its global output – and its operations outside the country.
For example, the plant in Dongguan used to source wafers – a key material – from Nexperia’s German and British factories, but that supply has been cut off since October.
Last month, Nexperia’s China subsidiary announced plans to shift its entire product line to a domestic 12-inch wafer supplier, in pursuit of what it called “independent operations”.
Shanghai-listed Wingtech, the Chinese owner that has sold most of its other electronics businesses to focus on semiconductors, has suffered steep financial losses. It reported a net loss of 189 million yuan in the first quarter, swinging from a net profit of 261 million yuan in the same period a year prior. That followed an 8.7 billion yuan net loss for all of 2025.
The company has also faced a delisting risk warning since May, after its auditor reported scope limitations, citing an inability to verify Nexperia’s overseas financial records. Wingtech said it could be forced to delist if such limitations were not resolved this year.
Wingtech has also mounted a legal challenge in the Netherlands, where the local court in February upheld CEO Zhang’s suspension and ordered an investigation that was expected to last up to six months. No updates have since emerged.
Wingtech reiterated on Monday that it would “continue to exhaust all legal measures to regain full control of Nexperia”. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
