How the Nexperia kerfuffle shines a gap on Western AI ambitions

Over the last week, China agreed to begin shipping packaged Nexperia chips back to Europe. Most of the press is focusing on the good news for car makers, since these chips are essential in all modern gas-guzzling cars, not just electric ones. The more interesting, less-told story is China’s increasing role in cornering multiple chokeholds required to power AI, feed them with more and finer-grained data, and take more precise action with better actuators powered by AI.

The chips at the heart of the matter are specialized semiconductors used to control high-speed electrical circuits. In addition to improving the performance of gas engines, they are also used in USB chargers, data center power supplies, renewable energy power management, robot power electronics, lab automation, and electrical power management, among other applications.

The most recent flashpoint followed a tense standoff with Dutch regulators over taking back control of the company from ...