Nexperia cleared to resume civilian chip shipments, vital to European car production

Beijing announced on Sunday that it had granted exemptions for certain semiconductor exports in a move seen as easing tensions with the Netherlands over control of Dutch-based Nexperia.

A Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said about the previously restricted semiconductor exports that “China has taken practical measures to exempt compliant exports for civilian purposes.”

The announcement follows a social media post by European Commission trade chief Maroš Šefčovič on Saturday saying that the EU had reached an agreement with China’s commerce ministry to restart semiconductor flows disrupted by the Nexperia crisis.

The Chinese ministry’s spokesperson added, “I would like to emphasise that we welcome the continued influence of the European side and urge the Dutch side to correct its wrong practices as soon as possible.”

The latest signs of a thaw between Beijing and The Hague over semiconductor controls that grew increasingly heated over the past months and worried carmakers on the continent pushed Wingtech Technology, the Shanghai-listed parent of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia, to extend last week’s rally.

The company closed with a 3.02% increase after marking an intraday peak at 6% on Monday before trading ended in Shanghai.

That follows a sharp jump on Friday, 7 November, when the stock surged by a whopping 9.7%.

The battle for control of a little-known chipmaker has threatened global auto production by choking off the semiconductor supply chain.

Nexperia makes semiconductors such as switches and logic chips, inncluding those that run things like airbag sensors, window controls and power management in cars.

The company is headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and it is a subsidiary of Wingtech Technology, which is partially owned by the Chinese government.

In late September and October 2025, The Hague moved against Nexperia after deeming the company’s governance and supply continuity risks to be a serious enough threat to European chipmaking demand.

Using the rarely invoked Goods Availability Act, the government granted itself veto powers over major Nexperia decisions after citing national security concerns, including risks to crucial chip know-how and claiming operations on Dutch and EU soil could be undermined or shifted abroad. A court subsequently suspended Nexperia’s chief executive.

As a response, China froze chip exports, and automakers feared factory stoppages because many of these legacy chips do not have quick substitutes.

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As Beijing moved to restore part of the exports, the immediate risk of production hiccups in Europe was quickly eliminated, and carmakers have received their first Nexperia chips, Volkswagen’s China chief confirmed to German newspaper Handelsblatt.

At the same time, Beijing paused its ban on shipping certain critical materials to the United States, such as gallium, germanium and antimony, which are used in chips, electronics and other high-tech components.

China also suspended the special port fees it had imposed on US-linked vessels as part of a broader one-year truce on duelling port charges. Both steps lower near-term costs and ease uncertainty for supply chains and shipping.

The market rally is therefore not surprising, as the temperature has been turned down in multiple chokepoints such as materials, components and logistics.

Nexperia, which designs and manufactures discrete and power semiconductors, has faced heightened scrutiny in Europe since 2022, when its acquisition of the UK’s Newport wafer fab was blocked on national security grounds.