Expect more of this to come, it's an unstated goal of the Chinese Communist Party to deindustrialize the West, the UK had to intervene too a few months ago to stop them from destroying their steel producing capacity.
Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
241–250 of 668 posts
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#242Earlier quoted context omitted.
> For context, the law that allows this all to happen was passed in 1952 and has never before been used. Interesting parallel here with China recently invoking - for the first time - their own legislation from the 50's to ban rare earth exports for military uses.
I always wondered how the large unified world of Roman Empire with running water and sewer fell apart (and backwards) into multitude of small feudal pieces with no technology to speak of for the 1000 years after Roman Empire. I think our modern civilization is probably at the beginning of similar process.
_Washington Post_ just had an article about why (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/12/america-r...).
"In 1984, a German historian compiled 210 explanations historians had suggested for Rome’s fall, from lead poisoning and barbarian invasions to Christianity, moral decline and gout.
After studying dynamic civilizations such as Athens, Rome, Abbasid Baghdad, Song China, Renaissance Italy and the Dutch Republic, I can attest that there is no single explanation. Each golden age had its own character and its own downfall."
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#243Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not here to debate whether free markets are good or bad, but governments have a privileged position versus private companies, and effectively operate above the law (again at least compared to private companies). Any government intervention takes us away from a free market, either a little bit or a lot, depending on the action. Apple is a private company. Anything it does is really part of the free market, at leas…
We’re talking about China subsidizing goods that it sells in another country. This is bread and butter “free market” behavior. Literally every company in the world does this one way or another.
No, that is not the free market at work at all. I agree it happens however. We simply don't live in a 100% free market world.
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#244Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everybody is a fan of free access and capital markets, until a foreign entity purchases something of importance. It’s a continuation of recent trends and closing markets. Nobody in their sane mind would allow a company like ASML or the likes to be purchased by competitors. But the irony is that when a non-European entity were to do something like this, e.g. nationalize their oil or mining etc. industry or a firm, the…
> But the irony is that when a non-European entity were to do something like this, e.g. nationalize their oil or mining etc. industry or a firm, the whole hell would brake loose. As far as I understand, Samsung, TSMC, and SMIC are all closely guarded by their respective governments. And China doesn't (didn't?) allow foreign companies to operate in China without a local partner at all. So I don't see the irony - every…
> And China doesn't (didn't?) allow foreign companies to operate in China without a local partner at all
Tesla was the first to buck this trend.
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can’t socialize losses and privatize gains. Yes, yes, and yes. We kept doing this, a bank or company stretches too much after making record profits, and then cries for federal funding and free money. The federal reserve is a lender of last resort and they shouldn’t have given that much money without any collateral etc. Even if they just kept the stock and then sold it afterwards, we wouldn’t be in this much deb…
easiest way to get downvoted on HN is to point out that we are the largest socialist country on the planet exactly because of this. there isn’t any shit we won’t socialize losses on (farming, banking… you name it, US has got your back)
Socializing is not the same as socialist per se, the latter of which has the specific definition of workers controlling the means of production, and I don't see that anywhere in the US much less the world.
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#246Europe's projected semiconductor manufacturing equipment expenditure from 2026-2028 is a rounding error. Global expenditure on 300mm fab equipment from 2026-2028 is predicted to be USD$374bn with regional breakdown as follows (totaling 100%): China - USD$95bn (25%) South Korea - USD$86bn (23%) Taiwan - USD$75bn (20%) Americas - USD$60bn (16%) Japan - USD$32bn (9%) Europe and Middle East - USD$14bn (4%) Southeast Asia…
yeah, but those machines are built in Europe. Most in Netherlands to be exact, but Holand too.
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#247Earlier quoted context omitted.
easiest way to get downvoted on HN is to point out that we are the largest socialist country on the planet exactly because of this. there isn’t any shit we won’t socialize losses on (farming, banking… you name it, US has got your back)
Socializing is not the same as social ist per se, the latter of which has the specific definition of workers controlling the means of production, and I don't see that anywhere in the US much less the world.
you can throw any semantics at this you want and re-define it however you see fit. but there are few things more socialist than government taking a stake in companies. if this Intel story came out or Venezuela or China we would be crying a foul saying “oh look at that socialist shit, glad I live in America”
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
A free market just means that people are allowed to buy and sell what they want. If a government decides to help some industries that is irrelevant. It stops being free when government attacks economic activity, not when it promotes it.
I'm not really disagreeing with you as it's not like there is a 100% true definition of a free market, different people can have different conceptions, but the original Adam Smith / classical view is that a free market should essentially be 100% driven by the private market on supply and demand - with as little government intervention as possible on either side of the ledger (subsidy or blocking)
Monopoly is a free market game and thete is only one winner. Free markets as such is an utopia dream.
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Socializing is not the same as social ist per se, the latter of which has the specific definition of workers controlling the means of production, and I don't see that anywhere in the US much less the world.
you can throw any semantics at this you want and re-define it however you see fit. but there are few things more socialist than government taking a stake in companies. if this Intel story came out or Venezuela or China we would be crying a foul saying “oh look at that socialist shit, glad I live in America”
Sure, I don't disagree on the argument, I'm just saying that people have been using the word socialism wrong for so long that it now just means when the government does something, basically.
Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not here to debate whether free markets are good or bad, but governments have a privileged position versus private companies, and effectively operate above the law (again at least compared to private companies). Any government intervention takes us away from a free market, either a little bit or a lot, depending on the action. Apple is a private company. Anything it does is really part of the free market, at leas…
We’re talking about China subsidizing goods that it sells in another country. This is bread and butter “free market” behavior. Literally every company in the world does this one way or another.
“subsidising” and “free market” are antonyms we learn in 3rd grade language arts class :)