Recently, the U.S., Europe, and China are competing over semiconductors. However, when such conflicts arise, the first places to suffer are actual production sites like automobile factories. A single car contains hundreds of semiconductors, and if even one is not supplied on time, the entire factory can come to a halt.

A car contains more types of semiconductors than one might think. From basic engine control to driving stability, safety, and convenience features, everything operates with chips. For example, the Engine Control Unit (ECU) contains a Microcontroller (MCU) that manages fuel injection, ignition timing, and exhaust control. Analog chips for sensors and power semiconductors (power transistors) are used in brakes, airbags, and ABS systems to respond quickly.

Moreover, modern cars have numerous power control chips (IGBT, MOSFET) for electronic power steering, automatic transmission control, and electronic windows. The infotainment system, navigation, rear cameras, and electronic dashboards use processors, memory, and graphics chips, while electric vehicles require voltage and current sensor chips and charging control chips for their battery management systems. Recently, with the addition of AI semiconductors for autonomous driving lidar, radar, and camera sensors, an average of over 1,000 semiconductors are used in a single vehicle.

A few years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a similar situation occurred. At that time, factories worldwide closed, and logistics were blocked, causing car manufacturers to face significant turmoil due to a lack of semiconductors. The problem stemmed from completed car manufacturers reducing their semiconductor inventories in advance. Suddenly, when car demand surged again, semiconductor production lines were already running for smartphones and home appliances, leaving no capacity to produce the various chips needed for car production. Many car companies painfully realized that 'the entire factory can stop due to a single semiconductor component.'

This time, the situation is similar. There is a semiconductor company called Nexperia, headquartered in the Netherlands, which was acquired by the Chinese company Wingtech in 2018. However, on September 2025, the Dutch government decided to manage the company directly, citing "national security and technology leak risks." Now, government approval is required for important company decisions. During this process, the Chinese CEO stepped down, and an interim CEO was appointed.

In response, China immediately protested. They blocked the export of semiconductor chips produced at Nexperia's factory in Dongguan, southern China, for a while. The problem is that this company produces a significant amount of general semiconductors used in automobiles. European car manufacturers rely on Nexperia products, so if the Chinese factory stops, European factories will also be affected simultaneously.

In fact, the headquarters could not supply the wafers, the raw materials for chips, on time, and the Chinese factory became unable to operate due to the export ban. As a result, car manufacturers had to reorganize their parts delivery and production plans, and some began urgently searching for alternative suppliers.

The U.S. has already placed Wingtech on the 'export control list' by the end of 2024, preventing them from purchasing technology and equipment, and in 2025, expanded those sanctions to subsidiaries like Nexperia. The Netherlands claims it is a measure to protect their technology, but China argues that it is "unfairly obstructing a company that was legitimately acquired."

As a result of this conflict, factories are experiencing a ridiculous situation where 'they have parts but cannot use them because they cannot pass customs.' However, automotive semiconductors cannot be easily moved to other factories. This is because automotive parts require complex quality certification, and changing them necessitates retesting.

Therefore, the European Union (EU) has proposed creating a new system for long-term cooperation between the Netherlands and China. The U.S. and China are also discussing conditions to ease some export restrictions. In the future, short-term shipments are expected to resume, medium-term plans to build more testing and assembly plants within Europe, and long-term practices of including political risks in pricing contracts are likely to increase.

Ultimately, this incident is not about who is right or wrong, but rather a case that shows how closely the world's supply chains are tied to politics. It serves as another reminder that the automotive industry can come to a halt due to a single semiconductor, just like during the pandemic.

In the future, the winning companies will be those that calculate and prepare for such risks in advance, rather than those that fight bigger battles.