Wingtech seeks $1.2 billion damages in new suit against Nexperia

BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) – China’s Wingtech Technology said its control over the Dutch chipmaker remains limited, filing a subsidiary lawsuit against Nexperia BV and five others, seeking provisional compensation of 8 billion yuan ($1.18 billion) for economic losses.

Wingtech owns Nexperia, and its latest lawsuit could re-escalate a conflict that has been largely frozen since late last year, when China agreed to roll back export controls on Nexperia chips in exchange for the Netherlands suspending its decision to seize control of Nexperia from Wingtech.

A court in China’s southern Guangdong province accepted the latest case, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday.

“Nexperia has taken note of Wingtech’s announcement and understands that the relevant court has not taken the case to trial,” Nexperia said in response.

“We regret that Wingtech has shown no interest in reaching a solution that would benefit all stakeholders, including Wingtech’s shareholders, and continue to encourage Wingtech to engage in an open dialogue,” Nexperia added.

The dispute with Nexperia erupted last September when the Dutch government seized control of the Netherlands-based company, citing fears that the firm had transferred its operations and intellectual property rights to China. The Dutch government later rescinded this move.

Wingtech reported late last month that its net loss widened to 8.7 billion yuan in 2025, from a loss of 2.8 billion yuan the previous year, as the dispute over control of Nexperia weighed on the company’s performance.

In January this year, Wingtech filed for international arbitration, seeking damages of up to $8 billion.

Wingtech’s latest lawsuit said Wingtech Technology and Yucheng Holdings are entitled to seek compensation for losses under China’s anti-foreign sanctions law, which Beijing has recently implemented more stringently.

“The defendants’ unlawful implementation or assistance in implementing the Dutch side’s discriminatory restrictive measures has caused the plaintiffs to suffer irreparable and enormous losses,” Wingtech said in its filing on Friday.

($1 = 6.7947 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Xiuhao Chen, Yukun Zhang and Eduardo Baptista; Additional reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Susan Fenton/Sudip Kar-Gupta)