Chip firm plotted to send tech to China, ex-CEO says

The former chief executive of Nexperia said Dutch officials had known for years that the company’s Chinese owner sought to move its technology to China, write Mara Hvistendahl from Amsterdam, and Joy Dong from Hong Kong

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A Nexperia factory in Dongguan, China, last month. The company's Dutch and Chinese entities remain in a remarkable standoff.

When a Chinese company bought the Dutch chipmaker Nexperia in 2019, its head quickly began plotting to move research and technology to China, according to the chipmaker’s former chief executive.

The effort came as China was trying to build up its capacity in crucial semiconductor chips — and went largely unchecked.

Now, those early moves are at the heart of a geopolitical showdown, with the Netherlands caught in a struggle between Washington and Beijing over who controls critical technology. And Nexperia, which makes basic chips essential for cars and appliances, has become a vivid example of how Chinese acquisitions of foreign tech companies can become national security problems, even years later.

Dutch officials took the extraordinary step of seizing Nexperia in September, setting off a chain of events that jolted the global auto industry. They cited concerns that the Chinese owner of Nexperia — Wingtech, a tech company that is partially backed by Chinese government funds — would move key technology out of Europe.

In fact, it was clear as early as 2019, from the moment that he took control of Nexperia, that Zhang Xuezheng, Wingtech’s controlling shareholder, sought to transfer research and intellectual property to China, Nexperia’s former chief executive, Frans Scheper, told The New York Times last week.

Mr Scheper’s account, which has not been previously reported, offers a rare look at what officials understood about the risks posed by the acquisition to the Dutch economy and the global supply chain, and when they understood them.