China to exempt some Nexperia chips shipments from export ban

China said on Saturday it will exempt some Nexperia chips from an export ban that was imposed over a row with Dutch officials and has alarmed European businesses.

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Anxiety over chip shortages began when the Netherlands invoked a Cold War-era law in late September to effectively take control of Nexperia, whose parent company Wingtech is backed by the Chinese government.

China, in response, banned any reexports of Nexperia chips to Europe and accused the United States of meddling in Dutch legal procedures to remove Nexperia’s Chinese CEO.

Beijing blamed what it said on Saturday was “the Dutch government's improper intervention in the internal affairs of enterprises” for leading to “the current chaos in the global supply chain”.

“We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of enterprises and grant exemptions to exports that meet the criteria,” a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement, without offering specifics.

The resumption of some Nexperia shipments was part of a trade deal agreed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump after talks in South Korea on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified sources.

Chinese and European Union officials were also to discuss Nexperia while meeting in Brussels, EU spokesman Olof Gill had said.

Those talks on Friday were “a welcome opportunity for both sides to update on... the introduction and implementation of export controls”, Gill said in a statement on Saturday.