The automobile manufacturer Volkswagen hopes to avoid the threat of short-time work in the VW brand factories chipdue to lack of being able to prevent it. “We have an alternative supplier who could compensate for the loss of delivery of Nexperia semiconductors,” VW brand production director Christian Vollmer (56) told the “Handelsblatt” on Thursday. Negotiations are currently underway with a company whose name Vollmer declined to name when asked.
According to the company, Nexperia is not a direct supplier to the Volkswagen Group. “However, some Nexperia components are used in our vehicle components that our direct suppliers supply us with,” VW announced on Tuesday. According to internal VW information, Nexperia accounts for around 40 percent of the global supply of standard chips for the automotive industry.
Mismanagement is said to have led to the takeover
Nexperia is the world’s largest supplier of simple semiconductors such as diodes or transistors and currently has Delivery difficulties
. The background is the recent takeover by the Dutch government, which will enable the transfer of important technologies China want to prevent. Nexperia belongs to the Chinese group Wingtech.
Beijing then imposed an export ban on Nexperia products. Nexperia semiconductors are also produced in Europe, but according to “Handelsblatt” they are sent to China for packaging and further processing.
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However, Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof (68) emphasized on Thursday that mismanagement in the management of the Chinese company was the reason for the takeover. The intervention by Dutch Economics Minister Vincent Karremans (38) at Nexperia was “not a measure against China,” the head of government told the Dutch news agency ANP at the EU summit in Brussels. Karremans had previously contacted his Chinese counterpart to find a solution.
Finding replacement suppliers is difficult
It is not easy for car manufacturers to react to Nexperia’s failure. At first glance, the chips appear to be mass-produced goods, said Peter Fintl, automotive expert at the IT service provider Capgemini, to the dpa. However, they are often very specially adapted and therefore not so easy to replace. “You can’t easily switch to other manufacturers for certain components.” This makes the search for replacement suppliers complicated and lengthy. Changes to the supply chains are fundamentally possible. “However, we are not talking about days or weeks here, but rather about months or quarters,” says Fintl.
Auto industry warns of production losses
The Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has already warned of possible failures due to missing chips – up to and including production stops. So far, production in the car factories is still running normally, the German manufacturers said.
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On Wednesday, VW warned of possible production downtimes, which were also possible at short notice. Mercedes-Benz announced that it was “covered in the short term.” The group is working “intensively with partners to close any gaps that may arise.” Something similar happened before BMW expressed.
First suppliers like ZF have already set up task forces to deal with the situation. We are working with customers and suppliers to keep the supply chains that depend on Nexperia products stable and to examine alternatives.
Bosch When asked, said: “Like other Nexperia customers, the current situation presents us with major challenges.” Teams of experts are in close contact with the manufacturer as well as other suppliers and customers in order to avoid possible restrictions in production or to keep them as low as possible.
The federal government wants to build an independent European chip industry
The federal government is also looking for solutions. A spokesman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Wednesday that they were concerned and were in close contact with the various parties involved – including the Chinese government. On Wednesday evening there was a discussion between the Federal Ministry of Economics and associations and companies from the automotive and electronics industries.
The Federal Ministry of Economics announced that it was in discussions with companies as well as Dutch and European partners “in various formats”. “We are committed to China for the interests of German buyers of the now blocked Nexperia components on all channels available to us,” explained a spokeswoman.
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The ministry did not want to provide further details; the conversation is confidential. The “Handelsblatt” reported from participants that it was noted that the industry as a whole must push forward the substitution of Nexperia chips. Politics and business would also work together to determine what consequences should be drawn from the incident. This is likely to be about building an independent chip industry in Europe and larger security buffers in companies’ supply chains.