China has blocked the export of certain products produced by the Dutch chip company, Nexperia, according to Bloomberg. This is the same company that the Dutch government recently seized from its Chinese parent company to prevent the transfer of what it called “crucial technological knowledge” from leaving the country. This action appears to be retaliatory and highlights the increasingly multi-polar world that is developing under the umbrella of rapid global expansion in AI capabilities, and a rush to secure important strategic chip development resources.
Chinese trade relations with Western nations have been far more fractious in 2025 than in years past. Following increasingly aggressive global trade policies, China has pivoted from integrating with the wider global economy to focusing more on shoring up its own semiconductor development and nearer-to-hand trading partners. Many Western nations have mirrored this in turn, with the Dutch government’s latest actions appearing to be just one more example of nations ensuring their own supply of silicon above almost all else.
If the roles were reversed, I bet most people around here would be complaining at “Chinese imperialism” or something. But an European country*, from “the West”, part of the “free world”, can do no wrong.
EDIT: spelling
You do know that a lot of what the CEO had been doing is illegal in the Netherlands?
Not only could the Dutch government legally do whatever they want with the company, they could have jailed him for 10 years.
Hwy tankie, how is Winnie these days?
“Everyone that disagrees with me is <some expletive>.”
C’mon, grow up.
When someone naively supporting a military industrial theft attempt of another country’s IP in a growth industry tells someone else to grow up … Is that ironic? Should we call Alanis? Don’t use NorTel-uh, Huawei for that call, naturally.
No.