The dispute has disrupted Nexperia’s operations leaving its European production and Chinese packaging units unable to work together.
Lawyers for Dutch chipmaker Nexperia and its Chinese owner Wingtech clashed in an Amsterdam court over control of the company in a dispute that has disrupted chip supplies to carmakers.
Judges are considering whether to order a full investigation into alleged mismanagement under former chief executive Zhang Xuezheng who founded Wingtech and whether control of Nexperia should be returned to the Chinese group. The conflict has paralysed operations with Nexperia’s European manufacturing arm unable to cooperate with its Chinese packaging and distribution unit.
Nexperia’s lawyer Jeroen van der Schrieck told the Enterprise Court that Wingtech was seeking to destabilise the company at a time of market strain. He said Wingtech had invited Chinese authorities to consider export restrictions on Nexperia in October harming customers and the business.
Wingtech’s lawyer Dirk Jan Duynstee said Zhang had explored options to prevent Nexperia from being placed on a United States blacklist and was open to governance changes if required. He argued the company could not function without its Chinese parent and subsidiaries.
The dispute began on September 30 when the Dutch government temporarily seized control of Nexperia citing concerns over transfers of operations and intellectual property to China before later reversing the move. On October 7 the court suspended Zhang as chief executive and transferred control of Wingtech’s shares to a Dutch administrator.
Wingtech said no evidence showed misappropriation of assets and questioned the need for state intervention. The Dutch state backed Nexperia’s current management.
Nexperia reported $331 million in profit on $2.06 billion of sales in 2024 and is now at risk of being split in two. The company halted wafer shipments to China in October and plans to invest $260 million to expand packaging capacity in Malaysia to supply non Chinese customers.
