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Nexperia, a Chinese Semiconductor manufacturing plant, located in the Netherlands, was seized by Dutch authorities last week in response to embargo pressures.
A Dutch seizure of Chinese-owned computer chip maker Nexperia came after rising U.S. pressure on the company, a court ruling released on Tuesday showed, underscoring how the firm has been caught in the crossfire between Washington and Beijing.
The government said on Sunday that it had intervened in Netherlands-based Nexperia, which makes chips for cars and consumer electronics. It cited worries about possible transfer of technology to its Chinese parent company, Wingtech.
[...] Nexperia is one of the largest makers globally of basic chips such as transistors that are not technically sophisticated but are needed in large volumes.
[...] The source said that company executives in the meeting believed that Dutch authorities were acquiescing to the United States and added that the company was very confident that it could have the decision reversed.
The Dutch government said on Tuesday there was no U.S. involvement or pressure in the decision to intervene in Nexperia.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Monday October 27, @04:30AM (2 children)
I was a bit alarmed when I first got wind of it.
A lot of companies depend on semiconductors, and the unavailability of just one component can be devastating, as the companies' product has no use at all unless it has all of its parts.
Our adoption of litigation to enforce artificial monopolies makes extortion by controlling supply of an essential component possible. Otherwise, such an extortion attempt would simply be met by locally manufacturing an equivalent part.
I fear the concept of anyone having the power to extort by nothing more than claiming "dibs" on a piece of information. There is little anyone can do about "trade secrets" where one company makes a product ( say a screwdriver ) that is superior to everyone else's product. Something in the process of making it. Or maybe something like Coca Cola and their secret recipe. As long as there is nothing harmful, I see nothing wrong there. I would, however, have a big problem honoring a claimed right to carbonate a beverage.
With as specialized as semiconductors get these days, I am extremely leery of anything that only one entity can legally provide. I don't know if this is the case but it wouldn't concern me much if only one company was providing the entire world with 6mm machine nuts. That would be a natural monopoly. At that scale, that could turn out nuts better and cheaper than anyone else could. Economies of Scale.
But if they got predatory, anyone else could make them as well.
I feel the same about semiconductors. I hate the idea of the possibility of extortion at lawyerpoint. When the solution is simply to have someone else make it.
Too much like one mechanic claiming rights to service a city only to set the price of an oil change, working with the City Code Enforcement to make sure no one else can do it.
I was afraid that that was what I was seeing. All this political bickering depriving companies of critical components Here was a Dutch and Chinese company joined at the hip. Both supporting the other. Bust it up and nothing. A lot of companies who depended on them would be royally screwed.
I've just seen too many problems based on "rights".
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by sgleysti on Monday October 27, @07:53AM
Your broader point is well taken. In this case, Nexperia makes commodity parts that tend to be available from several vendors. These are "discrete" or individual semiconductor components: Single transistors, diodes, etc. Nexperia also makes simple integrated circuis (ICs) such as single logic gates and voltage regulators. Some other companies in this market include Diodes Incorporated, onsemi, Diotec, Micro Commercial Components, Leshan Radio Company, and Panjit. That's only a sample.
Nexperia was spun out from NXP, which continues to produce more sophisticated integrated circuits like microcontrollers, power supply control ICs, and battery monitoring ICs.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 27, @02:51PM
> ... A lot of companies depend on semiconductors, and the unavailability of just one component can be devastating, ...
A few decades back, I visited a local company making piezoelectric transducers. Some of their products included a built-in FET (I believe as a charge amplifier). When their semiconductor supplier changed to a smaller die size (normal cost-saving in the chip business), at least one spec of the new part was inferior for their use.
At that point the piezo company bought the old FET production line! It wasn't very big, didn't require a super fancy clean room and I'm guessing the price was cheap--the original supplier just wanted the floor space back. Now they are vertically integrated and not dependent on any supplier for that FET. As far as I know they are still cranking out that "obsolete" FET and building it into their piezo sensors.
I wonder how often this happens?
Back in the 1920s(?), Henry Ford built the Rouge Plant--which started with steel-making and spit out cars, most of the input to the plant was raw materials. Since then, most companies have not been that completely vertically integrated.