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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: 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.