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Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

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Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#491

Post by powerapple »

daan-k wrote: post #454
Doxin wrote: post #5

Some more context from a dutch news source[0]: The ministry of economic affairs intervened out of a fear that crucial technological skills and capacities will leave the Netherlands and Europe. The ministry stated in a press release[1] that there was a threat of a "knowledge leak" (w/e that means exactly) and a possible threat to the European economy. After this intervention the Dutch government can now stop or revers…

Some new information has just emerged in the Dutch press. According to a just published article by the NRC newspaper [0], the owner wanted to use Nexperia's funds to finance another business (WingSkySemi) which was in financial trouble. He would have done this by making Nexperia place large orders for wafers it did not need. The article mentions Nexperia only requiring $70-80 million in wafers, while Nexperia would h…

this theory would contradict with the national security reason used by the government though. I have read in Chinese sources that they plan to remove the European directors, reasons I don't know.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#492

Post by kome »

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #480
rzerowan wrote: post #476

Update from the Amsterdam Court of appeal[0] , as expected large amount of pressure from the USG as well as some pressure on the CEO after the latest US 50% rule that triggered the RE restictions. - US telling Nexperia to ditch its Chinese leadership if it wants a waiver from the entity list. - The NL gov putting pressure on the CEO to introduce a new supervisory board to make sure there are no links to China. A lot…

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Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#493

Post by UpsideDownRide »

itopaloglu83 wrote: post #133
Doxin wrote: post #5

Some more context from a dutch news source[0]: The ministry of economic affairs intervened out of a fear that crucial technological skills and capacities will leave the Netherlands and Europe. The ministry stated in a press release[1] that there was a threat of a "knowledge leak" (w/e that means exactly) and a possible threat to the European economy. After this intervention the Dutch government can now stop or revers…

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…

Case in point Chile and Salvador Allende.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#494

Post by Sammi »

mk89 wrote: post #132
Sammi wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not a murderer for killing in self defence. You are allowed to defend yourself.

Yeah, the next step is to actually think "they are all potential enemies, we should produce here and be independent, so in case there is a war we can make it". Autarky is how Fascism began.

I absolute abhor a slippery slope argument that doesn't actually justify why and how this particular slope is slippery. Hand waving that something kinda sorta similar happened before is not good enough.

Why and how will keeping some chip manufacturing away from China inevitably lead to Fascism? So much manufacturing has been ceded to to China, that it is at this point reasonable to say the it is time to be careful and stop being naive about China.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#495

Post by Thorrez »

powerapple wrote: post #491
daan-k wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some new information has just emerged in the Dutch press. According to a just published article by the NRC newspaper [0], the owner wanted to use Nexperia's funds to finance another business (WingSkySemi) which was in financial trouble. He would have done this by making Nexperia place large orders for wafers it did not need. The article mentions Nexperia only requiring $70-80 million in wafers, while Nexperia would h…

this theory would contradict with the national security reason used by the government though. I have read in Chinese sources that they plan to remove the European directors, reasons I don't know.

I guess that depends on 2 things:

* how critical Nexperia's chips are to national security

* how much this bogus order would harm Nexperia

If the bogus order is sufficiently harmful to important chip production, this could harm national security.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#496

Post by eqvinox »

tinco wrote: post #473
daan-k wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some new information has just emerged in the Dutch press. According to a just published article by the NRC newspaper [0], the owner wanted to use Nexperia's funds to finance another business (WingSkySemi) which was in financial trouble. He would have done this by making Nexperia place large orders for wafers it did not need. The article mentions Nexperia only requiring $70-80 million in wafers, while Nexperia would h…

I am sort of surprised we even have an arm of government quick and authoritative enough to be able to intervene here. I always assumed the government would just let any frogs boil.

Indeed, how did they even figure this out?

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#497

Post by touristtam »

kome wrote: post #492
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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Erm - there is such thing as the concept of strategical industries. And it is neither a European thing or a modern thing either, but don't let that stop you from spouting a narrative where Europe is the bad guy in an international landscape where they have transferred voluntarily or not such much technology to China.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#498

Post by quitit »

quitit wrote: post #427
mtrovo wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I share the sentiment expressed, I highly doubt the general public would be as supportive if the roles were reversed, like if a 3rd world country attempted to nationalize an investment from a Western nation, particularly given the history of numerous nationalization attempts in Latin America with very public Western involvement in coups.

I think they're difficult to compare. The western companies aren't using the business as a strategic tool to destabilise the host country. While nationalising something like an oil company is only about changing where profits are sent.

Edits aren't possible, but what the body of replies (so far) miss is that this is discussing the weaponisation motive versus the profit motive.

The Dutch taking ownership of this company is not to divert its profits, it's to prevent the weaponisation of the company against the host country. There is an expectation that the Dutch have reasonable evidence of this. It's also set against a background of the foreign country's other attempts of unprovoked interference.

The replies seem to miss the mark and provide examples where nefarious activities were engaged in the pursuit of profit, some other examples provided were further off the mark by citing examples of retaliation against nationalisation (which is the opposite situation).

This is why I state that they're difficult to compare. If the Dutch were claiming this company for a financial motive it would be the source of significant uncertainty in foreign investment. That doesn't seem to be the case here.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#499

Post by RobotToaster »

motorest wrote: post #304
drnick1 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are controlled by their respective governments, but realistically that power is limited, because they know that "Western" powers would wage war if necessary. So in reality there is a tacit understanding between corrupt local governments and foreign powers to keep access more or less free.

> because they know that "Western" powers would wage war if necessary. Why do you feel the need go single out "the west"? I mean, where do you think the container ships crossing the Suez go to and come from? Do you think that the likes of China would be totally ok with their main trade routes being severed and instead having to go all the way around Africa? You're framing things as if there's still a British empire s…

China wouldn't wage war to do so though, at least not openly, it's not their style.

Hell they're explicitly exploring using the northeast passage to bypass the Suez.

Re: Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia

#500

Post by grafmax »

amai wrote: post #362

As long as western companies cannot freely buy companies in China the reverse shouldn't be possible, too. Business with dictatorships must stop as soon as possible. In fact it should be forbidden. Nothing good comes out of that. I hope we will see more moves like this from democratic governments.

We’re dictatorships by the rich. The US doesn’t even care about the semblance of democracy any more. There is no moral basis to such appeals. Consider Saudi Arabia. It’s geopolitical.

And on that front, the rivalry with China is actively stoked. They’ve been a top trading partner. We could have a relationship based on cooperation not rivalry but our leaders are incompetent and adversarial. Still you have some US consumers who seem to want higher prices for themselves. At the end of the day it’s the defense lobby who will be profiting from chauvinism.

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