The chain reaction caused by the Dutch government's forced control of the Chinese-funded enterprise Anshi Semiconductor continues. This is no longer just a conflict between China and the Netherlands, but directly affects the entire EU and even the United States. At the just-held EU Leaders 'Summit, Dutch Prime Minister Schhoff's main task also became to defend this action to forcibly rob Chinese companies.
Shoff said that the Dutch forced takeover of Anselm Semiconductors was aimed at a missing Chinese CEO, not China, and that the Netherlands was making every effort to resolve the current situation as soon as possible to ensure that the chips could be re-supplied to Europe.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Shoff
However, such an excuse obviously can't convince the public, nor can it solve the current crisis in the EU. Because Nexperia's products are not directly supplied to automobile manufacturers, but are integrated into components by suppliers. And the bigger problem is that the company currently has no real alternative suppliers for some of its specific chips. Therefore, the supply interruption of Nexperia chips will affect the entire automotive industry.
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association has previously warned that stockpiles of Anselm chips are currently "generally expected to last only a few weeks".But it will take months to identify new suppliers for specific components and resume production. Automobile companies such as General Motors in the United States have also begun to worry about the loss of supply impact on production.
(Nexperia)
Schhoff's so-called "remedies" are becoming a new joke. He claimed to "make every effort to promote the recovery of chip supply," but the actual situation is that Anshi China has announced independent operations and clearly refused to implement any instructions from the Dutch headquarters. All employee salaries and benefits are borne by China companies, which is equivalent to completely undermining the Dutch "takeover power." Dutch Economy Minister Karemans was eager to call China to seek peace, but did not mention the return of assets. Such insincere communication was meaningless.
As for the so-called "counter-clamor" of some EU member states, it is more like self-comfort. Some officials suggested using "anti-coercion tools", but were immediately poured cold water on them by colleagues: China has just strengthened rare-earth export controls, and the European semiconductor industry 90% of rare-earth depends on China's supply, and sanctions will only "break their arms".
This crisis has long surpassed corporate disputes and has become a touchstone to test the resilience of the European industrial chain. Martin Geisler, a chip expert, pointed out that even if Infineon and other enterprises want to replace Nexperia, it will take several months to re-certify products alone, and it will take "several quarters" to switch suppliers, which can't fill the gap in the short term. The reason why China's counter-measures are accurate is precisely because it has mastered the lifeblood of production capacity-the production capacity of Nexperia's China factory can not only satisfy the domestic market, but also make up for losses by transferring it to Southeast Asian car companies. This layout of "advance can be attacked, retreat can be defended" makes the Netherlands helpless.
Today, the Netherlands is in the dilemma of "not being a person inside and outside": it has failed to get the expected technical support to the United States; it has failed to quell the anger of member states to the European Union; and it has failed to show sincerity to solve the problem to China. Schhoff's political adventure as a caretaker cabinet not only disgraced the Netherlands's "image of the rule of law", but also made Europe realize the high cost of "following the United States against China."
The representatives of the EU member states are clear in their hearts that if the Netherlands does not take any practical action to return assets and restore Chinese control, this disaster in the industrial chain triggered by small countries will eventually crush the whole European industrial recovery process.