Nexperia China Defies Dutch HQ’s Decision to Remove Chinese VP

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Oct 25, 2025 - 09:58 Updated: Oct 25, 2025 - 09:52
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Nexperia China Defies Dutch HQ’s Decision to Remove Chinese VP

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Nexperia’s China arm has disregarded its Dutch headquarters’ decision to remove a Chinese vice president amid an ongoing stand-off between the entities and between the two countries.

The chipmaker’s Chinese arm told staff to ignore directives from its headquarters earlier this week after the Dutch government seized control of the company’s headquarters.
The Dutch government earlier this month imposed direct supervision over Nexperia’s global management, citing “serious governance shortcomings” and fears that critical chipmaking capabilities could be transferred to Chinese ownership. The move was made under the rarely used Cold War-era Goods Availability Act, marking the first such action in Dutch industrial history.

In response, Beijing also blocked the exports of Nexperia’s products from China.

The dispute has left U.S. and European automakers scrambling for supplies as most of Nexperia’s chips are packaged in China.

In a statement published on Chinese social media app WeChat, Nexperia China said the Dutch headquarters’ “unilateral decision” to remove John Chang from his position as global VP of sales and marketing has “no legal effect within the jurisdiction of China.”

Nexperia China said Chang will remain in his position and accused the company’s Dutch headquarters and the Dutch government of interfering with the company’s normal operations.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Nexperia and the Ministry of Economic Affairs for comment.

Nexperia makes chips that are widely used in home electronics and other equipment, such as phones, computers, cars, and medical equipment.

The company was acquired in 2018 by Wingtech, a state-controlled Chinese company that was blacklisted by the United States in December 2024.
The UK government in 2022 ordered Nexperia to divest a British chip maker it had bought, but the Dutch government in 2023 allowed Nexperia’s takeover of Delft-based startup Nowi.

On Sept. 30, the Netherlands’ Economic Affairs Minister Vincent Karremans invoked the Goods Availability Act to seize control of Nexperia for a year, giving the minister the power to block Nexperia decisions that are deemed harmful to Dutch and EU interests.

In an Oct. 14 letter to Parliament, Karremans said certain actions of Nexperia’s CEO, Zhang Xuezheng, had posed “an acute and serious threat to the continuity of the company and thus the preservation of critical technological knowledge, as well as production and development capacities in the Netherlands and Europe.”

According to an Oct. 14 statement from Nexperia, the company is banned from “relocating company parts, firing existing executives and/or making other decisions without explicit permission from the Dutch government” during the year. The statement says the order is intended to prevent the goods manufactured by Nexperia from becoming unavailable, thus protecting Dutch and European economic security.”

Meanwhile, a Dutch commercial court on Oct. 7 suspended Zhang and appointed Dutch businessman Guido Dierick as a non-executive director, and transferred control of almost all of Nexperia’s shares, which were indirectly held by Wingtech, to a Dutch lawyer for management.

On Oct. 4, the Chinese regime imposed an export ban on Nexperia’s products.

Karremans on Tuesday spoke to his Chinese counterpart, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, to settle the dispute, but the parties have yet to reach a solution.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
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