Nexperia China announces breakthrough for domestic chip-making

Chipmaker Nexperia China says it has begun small-scale production of bipolar discrete devices using a domestically-developed 12-inch wafer platform, in what is a step towards localized manufacturing after its Dutch parent company cut its supply chain.

Nexperia China said late on Monday that its in-house 12-inch platform has successfully produced bipolar discrete devices in pilot volumes. The company also said it had developed a new electrostatic discharge protection device based on 12-inch wafer trials, designed to safeguard transmission lines from static discharge, surge currents and short circuits.

According to the company, the components are intended for consumer electronics such as smartphones and portable devices.

The move came after Nexperia's Dutch headquarters disabled a batch of work accounts used by employees in China, disrupting access to certain internal systems and affecting parts of the production process.

A person familiar with the matter told China Daily that the Dutch headquarters may have discovered through internal systems that the China unit had made substantive progress in localizing wafer manufacturing for certain devices.

"That development could undermine earlier efforts to curb the China operation's expansion by halting wafer supplies," the source said.

"In response, the Dutch side may have moved to disable employee accounts at the China unit in an attempt to disrupt the localization of production."

chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn