Acea, the European association of car manufacturers, has declared that the chip stocks of the major European automotive groups will run out within a few days. This could cause a halt in production across the continent, including Italy, at a time when the market is slowly recovering from very complicated years.
The problem arose last October 13, when the Dutch government took control of Nexperia, the European branch of the Chinese company Wingtech and the main supplier of European automotive chips. Semiconductor flows from China have since stopped in retaliation and automakers have gone into crisis.
Car factories close to block due to lack of chips
Acea’s complaint uses very worried tones. Sigrid de Vries, director general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, said:
Our companies report that the shutdown of assembly lines could be a matter of days. It is urgent to find a diplomatic way out. The European automotive industry cannot afford months of blockage before alternative sources of supply are activated.
The problem, fundamentally, is that there is a shortage of semiconductors after the interruption of supplies of Nexperia, which represented a very high percentage of the car manufacturers’ chip supplies. The search for alternative suppliers, although it began weeks ago, is not simple and at the moment does not seem to have yielded results.
What happened with Nexperia and Wingtech
In 2024, the United States blacklisted the Chinese semiconductor company Wingtech from the Department of Commerce. Wingtech is the parent company of Nexperia, but the European branch immediately decided to comply with American requests. After almost a year, the government of the Netherlands, where Nexperia is based, began investigating the company’s CEO, Zhang Xuezheng.
In October 2025, Dutch authorities discovered that the CEO had manipulated Nexperia’s orders to supply a Shanghai plant he owned. With this motivation, the government placed the company under extraordinary administration on 13 October.
The reaction of China and Wingtech was to interrupt all supplies to European plants. In fact, only 20% of Nexperia’s production is entirely located in Europe, while the remaining 80% is based on semi-finished products from Chinese plants. Supplies to automakers immediately took a hit, and they are now on the verge of shutting down.
The reaction of the European Commission
The European Commission is trying to mediate between the Dutch and Chinese authorities. European executive spokesperson Olof Gill explained:
Commissioner Sefcovic is in constant dialogue with both parties. The problem is serious and the goal is a quick solution.
Today, Thursday 30 October, a Chinese delegation is expected in Brussels to discuss the issue. Meanwhile, the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso shared Acea’s appeal, declaring:
We need a Chips Act 2 to guarantee European strategic autonomy and safeguard our production chains. With the Semiconductor Alliance we are working precisely in this direction.
