The Dutch chipmaker’s China unit said that a new production line which will produce 12-inch silicon wafer up to 100 percent domestically will be set up in the country.
The China division of the Dutch semiconductor company, Nexperia announced that it will shift its entire product line to a 12-inch silicon wafer foundry in China to pursue independent operations, after a year long dispute with European headquarters.
Nexperia’s China team, which used to source wafers from European fabrication plants, said it is shifting to ‘100 percent domestic production’.
The most important update from Sunday’s press briefing was a shift to a new 12-inch wafer supply provided by an unnamed ‘Chinese strategic Partner’. Nexperia China, also known as Wingtech Technology, will also be transferring products from its 8-inch and 6-inch production lines.
Wafers are silicon discs, from which semiconductor chips are cut. Nexperia China claims to achieve remarkable cost-efficiency from the new supply, noting that a 12-inch wafer provided four times more area than a 6-inch wafer and 2.25 times more area than a 8-inch wafer.
In March, the company started small-volume production of bipolar discrete devices, domestically. Following that, the firm announced on Sunday that it will shift its entire product portfolio,including diodes, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and logic integrated circuits on 12-inch wafers.
Previously, Nexperia’s wafers were produced in German and British fabrication plants and were shipped for assembly to China, Malaysia and the Philippines. While Nexperia’s website showed that a 8-inch wafer facility started operating in Manchester, Britain, in 2021, the European facilities lacked 12-inch wafer production facilities.
Wingtech Technology, the China parent of Nexperia, and responsible for 70 percent of Nexperia’s global output, committed a 12 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) investment to build a 12-inch wafer facility in Shanghai.
Tensions between Nexperia and Wingtech began in September 2025, after the Dutch government tried to restrict China’s operational control over the firm following which Nexperia blocked wafer shipments to the assembly plant in Dongguan, a city in China’s southern Guangdong province.
Addressing the restructuring, John Chang, Nexperia China’s chief operating officer, was quoted by China Daily on Monday as saying the unit’s latest moves were “not about confronting anyone – they are about protecting those we serve”.
The split in Nexperia has expanded to legal channels with Wingtech filing a lawsuit against Nexperia and three of its executives in May under China’s anti-foreign sanctions law.
Meanwhile diplomatic channels have been invoked to diffuse the tensions. China’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Shen Bo met the Dutch economic minister Heleen Herbert and both sides agreed that the governments shouldn’t interfere within the company matters.
Dutch Prime Minister, Rob Jetten is set to visit China, next spring, in a first such bilateral visit since the Nexperia crisis broke out.
