The Dutch Government is stupid. Nexperia biggest factory is in China. Now China has put export control on Nexperia’s products and forbid them from being exported!

If China is nasty – it can add Nexperia’s operation outside China to an equivalent of an Entity List and simultaneously enforce its new rare earth element (REE) export controls on Nexperia’s key equipment suppliers (like ASML and Japanese toolmakers) – so that they cannot do business with Nexperia. Nexperia’s operations would be severely crippled, if not halted.

The reason lies in the total dependence of Nexperia chip manufacturing on foreign tools and maintenance:

1. Tool Maintenance Blackout: Nexperia’s fabrication plants (fabs) rely on sophisticated machinery for wafer processing. These tools contain Chinese REE permanent magnets for their ultra-precise motion, positioning, and laser systems. Restricting servicing and spare parts for these REE-dependent machines—especially for critical tools—would lead to rapid and catastrophic equipment failure and production halts as machines break down or drift out of calibration.
2. Consumables Cutoff: Essential Chinese REE-based materials, such as cerium oxide slurry used for wafer polishing, would also be immediately restricted.
3. No Immediate Alternative: Nexperia cannot run its fabs without these specialized global tools and consumables, and there are no immediate, non-Chinese alternatives for the entire supply chain of REE-containing parts.

Essentially, a Chinese ban weaponizing REEs against Nexperia’s foreign tool suppliers would create a dual choke-point—on the source materials and the critical machinery—making continued high-volume production impossible.

Vir: Ignis Rex