Dec 19 (Reuters) – The Chinese unit of Netherlands-based Nexperia has locked in supplies of silicon wafers from local firms to cover all of its 2026 production of a key product, a document showed, after the Dutch firm stopped supplying the raw material in a corporate dispute.
The development will allow the Chinese unit, which declared itself independent from Nexperia’s European management two months ago, to continue manufacturing Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) power chips and modules, switches that regulate current in electric vehicles and industrial equipment.
The dispute began when the Dutch government took control of Nexperia from its Chinese parent Wingtech in September, citing governance issues. In late October, it suspended supplies of wafers to the Chinese unit, while a Dutch court ordered the Wingtech founder to be removed as CEO of Nexperia.
Beijing responded by halting exports of Nexperia’s finished products, leading to chip shortages for global automakers.
Both governments eased their measures last month, but court battles and internal battles over control of Nexperia continue, with China and Wingtech both warning that the disruption could resume without a long-term resolution.
In a letter sent to its distributors earlier this month and seen by Reuters, Nexperia’s China unit said it had locked in wafer production capacity for IGBT products with local suppliers for 2026 and was speeding up verification of wafers from Wingtech’s Wingsky Semi foundry to ensure “abundant supply.”
The previously unreported move marks a further separation in the supply chain between Nexperia China and its Dutch parent that could lead to a full split.
Nexperia told Reuters it was not in communication with its Chinese subsidiary and the unit showed “no intention to negotiate a short-term solution to restore the flow of chips to customers.”
Nexperia China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Beijing last week asked the Dutch government to implement the consensus they reached on encouraging negotiations between Nexperia and Wingtech and to encourage the chipmaker to send representatives to China as soon as possible for talks.
THE INVENTORY OF THE LOW HEAT WAFER
Nexperia China has told local distributors that wafer inventory at its factory in Dongguan in southern China’s Guangdong province is low as supply from the Netherlands is not expected to resume soon, a person familiar with the matter said.
The low inventory of its wafers has started to cause a shortage of Nexperia chips for Chinese automakers, especially for logic equipment, transistors and diodes, Nexperia’s most popular products, according to the source.