An effort by Europe to stand up to China and retain local technology is approaching a breaking point.
In a fight over a critical link in the global supply chain, chipmaker Nexperia was wrested away from its Chinese owner by a Dutch court, and now one of the leaders in what are known as legacy chips is racing to defend its independence. If the Nijmegen-based company is successful, Europe would hold on to valuable semiconductor manufacturing expertise and hand the region a rare victory over China.
By pushing back over Nexperia, Europe aims to “set a precedent for what ‘de-risking’ means,” said Benedetta Girardi, program coordinator at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, referring to Europe’s objective of reducing dependencies on China. The intention is to show that Europe “wants sovereignty and autonomy as part of the conversation” over tech, even as it seeks to maintain trade relations with a key partner.
