Introduced in late September, that rule expanded US export restrictions to any company that was at least 50 per cent owned by entities on Washington’s trade blacklist.
The one-year suspension is expected to complicate the geopolitical dispute surrounding Nexperia, a critical supplier of semiconductors with automotive, industrial, mobile and consumer applications.
The Dutch government’s action, which included the ousting of Nexperia CEO Zhang Xuezheng, was partly a reaction to the anticipated effects of the new US rule.
An employee holds a wafer at a Nexperia production facility in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Reuters
“China has found effective means to counterbalance relevant US policies”, said Zhang Guobin, founder of Chinese chip industry news website eetrend.com, referring to Beijing’s suspension of a set of new rare earth export controls unveiled in October.