Nexperia did not have to abandon its takeover of Delft-based Nowi Energie, which is developing chips to extract energy from light, heat or WiFi signals. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy does not mind if China, as the owner of Nijmegen chip manufacturer Nexperia, has access to this promising technology.
This can be seen from the letter from the outgoing minister, Micky Adriaansens, to the DPR. Investigation is not necessary because Nowi does not make chips that can be used militarily. Legally, this is only possible on (semi) military items. And that didn’t happen in this case, according to the ministry. The fact that Nexperia’s owner, Wingtech, has ties to the Chinese state through a number of shareholders is irrelevant in EZK’s eyes.
The British think differently. Nexperia was told last year by Grant Shapps, the Economy Secretary, that the Newport Wafer Fab in South Wales had to be largely sold for national security reasons. The largest chip factory in England only makes simple chips. Nexperia strongly denied that chips from Wales could be used for military purposes.
Germany also objects to China’s ownership of Nexperia. German Minister Habeck successfully opposed Nexperia’s inclusion in the European Commission’s sought-after generous support program to reduce the EU’s dependence on semiconductors from other parts of the world.
Nexperia is a spinoff of NXP, the company where Chinese hackers linked to the Chinese State have been trying to steal chip designs for more than two years. ASML also became a victim of Chinese espionage. In fact it happened twice.
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