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.
For anyone wondering the chinese chips tech is a bit behind, maybe 5-20 years depending on the specific tech, which is similar to America and Russia. Intel if they keep fabs in the U.S would keep the U.S closer to 5 years behind Taiwan and South Korea which isn’t terrible considering moving past 2nm is extremely difficult and it’s not likely that there will be huge improvements in lithography tech in the near future.