Nexperia China says it’s shifting its entire product portfolio to domestically sourced 12-inch silicon wafers, possibly marking a definitive break with the chipmaker’s European business. The move follows nearly a year of disrupted wafer shipments from Nexperia’s 6- and 8-inch European front-end fabs after a dispute between the Dutch headquarters and Chinese parent company Wingtech. According to the Chinese unit, the transition will ultimately enable “100 percent domestic production” of the entire Nexperia portfolio, the South China Morning Post reports.
The identity of Nexperia China’s manufacturing partner hasn’t been disclosed, but presumably it’s Wingsky Semi, another subsidiary of Wingtech. Wingtech founder Zhang “Wing” Xuezheng has been suspended as Nexperia’s CEO by a Dutch court over allegations of mismanagement. At the heart of that case is the suspicion that Zhang used Nexperia to benefit affiliated companies, Wingsky in particular.
Having lost about 70 percent of back-end capacity due to the conflict, Nexperia Europe has been investing heavily in capacity expansions of its own, primarily in Malaysia. Back-end capacity is expected to be restored by the end of the year, according to a recent NRC report (link in Dutch).
