Nexperia China tells staff to follow local orders as Dutch takeover deepens

An internal message circulated in Nexperia China asked staff to comply with local management and to treat recent directives from the Netherlands as non-binding, reflecting a breakdown in communications after Dutch regulators intervened and the head office issued orders the China unit said it could not implement. The episode follows rapid escalation between European authorities and the company’s corporate centre over alleged governance and national-security concerns.

Operational frictions are already appearing across supply chains that depend on Nexperia’s discrete and power-management chips. Automakers and tier-one suppliers have begun reassessing inventories and supplier plans as customers worry about payment, payroll access and whether factories in China will keep shipping to global production lines, risks that could force short-term reallocations or qualification of substitute parts.

The dispute highlights how semiconductor geopolitics can quickly translate into commercial disruption. Governments are balancing scrutiny of sensitive technologies with the commercial realities of integrated global supply chains, and companies caught between jurisdictions must manage legal, reputational and operational complexity. For buyers and partners the immediate priority is contingency planning; for regulators and shareholders the pressure will be to clarify legal lines, ensure payroll and logistics continuity, and negotiate de-escalation while safeguarding policy objectives.