Dutch chipmaker Nexperia, whose supply chain was broken up when the Dutch government took over the company in September, urged its Chinese units in an open letter on Thursday to help restore normal production.

Nexperia’s Dutch unit said in an open letter that it had made repeated and multiple attempts to restore dialogues but has failed to receive a response from its Chinese units.

Nexperia makes billions of simple but ubiquitous chips for cars and other electronics and shortages have threatened automotive supply chains, leading to production slowdowns and halts.

It manufactures most of its wafers in Hamburg, Germany, and then sends them to Dongguan, China to be packaged and sent on to customers.

The Dutch government, on September 30, took control of Nexperia, which is headquartered in the Netherlands but owned by China’s Wingtech, saying the move was necessary to prevent the company’s former CEO from moving European operations to China from its current base in the Netherlands.

In response, Beijing halted exports of Nexperia’s finished products on October 4, a measure it has since partly relaxed.

Separately, Nexperia’s Chinese arm declared itself no longer subject to control by European management after the seizure and on October 26, the European side of the company stopped shipping wafers to it, citing non-payment.

On Wednesday, China pushed for a company-led resolution following a call between China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao and EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic.

“Nexperia B.V. has made repeated and multiple attempts, both formal and informal, to re-establish the dialogue with Nexperia’s entities in China by means of direct outreach via calls, emails and proposed meetings,” Nexperia’s open letter stated.

“Regrettably, Nexperia did not receive any meaningful response,” it added.

The Pentagon has concluded that Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu Inc and BYD Co should be added to a list of companies that aid the Chinese military, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg informed lawmakers of the conclusion in a letter on October 7, three weeks before Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to a broad trade truce, according to the report.

It is not immediately clear if the companies have been added to the Pentagon’s 1260H list of Chinese companies deemed military-linked but operating in the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

While the designation does not involve immediate bans, it can be a blow to the reputations of affected companies and represents a stark warning to U.S. entities and firms about the risks of conducting business with them.

Feinberg said the three companies and five others, Eoptolink Technology Inc, Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd , RoboSense Technology Co, WuXi AppTec Co and Zhongji Innolight Co, merit inclusion on the 1260H list, according to the report.

An Alibaba spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement that “there’s no basis to conclude that Alibaba should be placed on the Section 1260H List”, clarifying that “Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy.”

The company also added that “being on the Section 1260H List would not affect our ability to conduct business as usual in the United States or anywhere in the world” as it doesn’t do any business related to U.S. military procurement.

The Pentagon, Baidu and BYD did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comments.

The annually updated list of Chinese military companies, formally mandated under U.S. law as the “Section 1260H list”, designated 134 companies in its last update in January, including Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings and battery maker CATL.

A U.S.-based advocacy group has filed a lawsuit in Washington accusing Apple of using minerals linked to conflict and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda despite the iPhone maker’s denials.

International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) has previously sued Tesla, Apple and other tech firms over cobalt sourcing, but U.S. courts dismissed that case last year.

French prosecutors also dropped Congo’s case against Apple subsidiaries in December over conflict minerals, citing lack of evidence. A related criminal complaint in Belgium is still under investigation.

Apple denied any wrongdoing in response to Congo’s lawsuits, saying it had instructed its suppliers to halt the sourcing of material from Congo and neighbouring Rwanda. It did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the latest complaint.

IRAdvocates, a Washington-based nonprofit that tries to use litigation to curtail rights abuses, said in the complaint filed on Tuesday in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia that Apple’s supply chain still includes cobalt, tin, tantalum and tungsten linked to child and forced labour as well as armed groups in Congo and Rwanda.

The lawsuit seeks a determination by the court that Apple’s conduct violates consumer protection law, an injunction to halt alleged deceptive marketing, and reimbursement of legal costs, but does not seek monetary damages or class certification.

The lawsuit alleges that three Chinese smelters — Ningxia Orient, JiuJiang JinXin and Jiujiang Tanbre — processed coltan that U.N. and Global Witness investigators allege was smuggled through Rwanda after armed groups seized mines in eastern Congo, linking the material to Apple’s supply chain.

A University of Nottingham study published in 2025 found forced and child labour at Congolese sites linked to Apple suppliers, the lawsuit said.

Ningxia Orient, JiuJiang JinXin and Jiujiang Tanbre did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Congo, which supplies about 70% of the world’s cobalt and significant volumes of tin, tantalum and tungsten – used in phones, batteries and computers – did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rwanda also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple has repeatedly denied sourcing minerals from conflict zones or using forced labour, citing audits and its supplier code of conduct. It said in December that there was “no reasonable basis” to conclude any smelters or refiners in its supply chain financed armed groups in Congo or neighbouring countries.

Congolese authorities say armed groups in eastern Congo use mineral profits to fund the conflict that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands. They have tightened controls on minerals to choke off funding, squeezing global supplies.

Apple says 76% of cobalt in its devices was recycled in 2024, but the IRAdvocates lawsuit alleges its accounting method allows mixing with ore from conflict zones.