BEIJING: According to Dutch chipmaker Nexperia’s China unit, it has established “sufficient inventories of finished goods and work-in-progress” and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies.
The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant on Oct 26, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported last Friday.
Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible”, adding the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive”, according to a statement Nexperia China released yesterday.
Nexperia China had asserted it had the right to operate independently of Nexperia Netherlands after Dutch authorities in September took over control of Nexperia from its Chinese owner Wingtech, citing concerns about possible technology transfers. Beijing responded by blocking the company’s products from leaving China.
“We have proactively initiated multiple contingency plans and are accelerating the qualification of new wafer supply sources,” the Chinese unit said yesterday on its Chinese social media account.
Existing inventories would sustain the Chinese unit’s order fulfilment “through year-end and beyond”, it added.
Nexperia makes basic, inexpensive power-control chips such as transistors and diodes that cost only a few cents to buy.
However, such chips are needed in almost every device that uses electricity, and automakers that use Nexperia’s chips have also warned of potential production disruptions.
The White House is expected to announce that Nexperia’s China facilities will resume shipments, Reuters reported last Friday, after a trade truce was struck at a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea. — Reuters
