AsianFin -- NXP Semiconductors is deepening its commitment to China, its largest single market, as the Dutch automotive chip giant seeks to tap the explosive growth of the country’s electric vehicle sector and defend its global leadership in next-generation semiconductors.

During a recent visit to Shanghai, CEO Kurt Sievers and his designated successor Rafael Sotomayor met with Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng, underscoring the company’s strategic focus on China amid a global realignment of automotive supply chains. “If we can succeed in China, we can succeed globally,” Sievers said, praising Shanghai’s innovation-friendly ecosystem and describing the city as an engine for NXP’s regional growth.

NXP, which has operated in China for nearly four decades and employs more than 6,000 people across 14 cities, is ramping up its localization strategy at a time when Chinese EV giants such as BYD and Xiaomi are expanding aggressively. Despite this, domestic chipmakers currently meet just 10% of China’s automotive semiconductor needs, leaving a vast market opportunity for global suppliers.

Earlier this year, NXP established a dedicated China Business Division to accelerate product development and customer responsiveness. The division is leading the company’s “In China, For China” and “In China, For Global” strategies, aimed at combining NXP’s global innovation capabilities with the agility and cost-efficiency of the Chinese market. According to Li Xiaohe, Executive Vice President of NXP and General Manager of NXP China, the local engineering team has already defined, designed, and developed over 200 products for both domestic and global customers.

China accounted for 36% of NXP’s total global revenue in 2024, the company disclosed in its latest financial report. About half of that revenue came from multinationals re-exporting goods, while the remainder served Chinese-headquartered firms increasingly seeking independent, domestic supply chains. NXP works with a mix of local and international partners to meet this demand开云kaiyun官方网站, including TSMC’s Nanjing fab for 16nm and 28nm chips, long-term partner SMIC for mature nodes, and Hua Hong for mixed-signal processing. The company’s major backend packaging and assembly plant in Tianjin further strengthens its footprint.