In September 2025, the Dutch government took control of Nexperia, citing "national security" reasons. The ripples from the Dutch government's forced takeover of Nexperia had not yet subsided. However, as early as November 5, 2024, the UK government also required JianGuang Assets to sell all its equity in FTDI on the grounds of "national security". It is worth noting that the end of December 2025 will be the final deadline for the forced sale.

The FTDI Case

In December 2021, JianGuang Assets, a well-known investment institution in China's semiconductor field, acquired 80.2% of the equity in FTDI, a global leader in the niche field of chip design, for $414 million. FTDI (Future Technology Devices International), founded in 1992 and headquartered in Glasgow, UK, is a leading company in the field of USB bridge chips. The company focuses on the design, research and development, and sales of USB bridge chips and related products, with its products widely used in multiple fields such as automotive electronics, the Internet of Things, industrial products, and medical equipment.

However, on November 5, 2024, the UK government forced JianGuang Assets to sell all its equity in FTDI. And according to legal experts' estimates, the end of December 2025 will be the final deadline for the forced sale. This decision has been widely criticized as "retroactive law-enforcement" because the acquisition of FTDI took place before the UK's National Security and Investment Act 2021 came into effect.

The Impact of the FTDI Case and the Semiconductor Industry Ecosystem

The UK government's forced sale order marks another case of Chinese semiconductor investment encountering the crude intervention of foreign governments on the grounds of "national security" after the Dutch Nexperia case. This kind of intervention not only causes significant financial losses to Chinese companies, but also severely disrupts the benign ecosystem of global semiconductor industry's open exchange and cooperation.

FTDI's high-speed USB technology is seen as a key link in the chain-filling of China's semiconductor industry chain. Its core technology has important strategic significance in the field of high-end analog and mixed-signal chips, and can effectively fill the gap in China's high-end interface chip field. The UK government's intervention not only blocks the path for China's semiconductor industry to introduce advanced technology, but also increases the political risk in the global semiconductor industry chain.

The Future Outlook of the Semiconductor Industry

Under the current global economic pattern, the semiconductor industry, as the core of modern technology, has become the focus of strategic competition among countries. In the future, as more countries strengthen the review of foreign investment, Chinese companies' overseas semiconductor investment will face more challenges. However, this also prompts countries to accelerate the independent innovation and industrial upgrading of the semiconductor industry. By strengthening domestic research and development capabilities and improving the industrial chain layout, China is expected to occupy a more important position in the global semiconductor market. At the same time, the international community should also work together to promote the establishment of a more fair and transparent global technology cooperation mechanism to ensure the healthy development of the semiconductor industry.

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