Trump Forces Foreign Chip Maker to Sell U.S. Plant, Citing National Security
Trump orders NXT Semiconductors to sell its $5.7 billion Oregon chip plant within 120 days, citing national-security risks and escalating the U.S. battle for tech sovereignty.
The President’s Midnight Pen Stroke
At 12:07 a.m. Friday, a single-page order landed on the White House website that will rip a $5.7 billion semiconductor plant out of foreign hands. President Donald Trump, invoking the rarely-used Defense Production Act, demanded “complete divestment within 120 days” of the Oregon wafer fab owned by Netherlands-based NXT Semiconductors.
Why This Fab Matters
The facility, tucked beside the Columbia River, is one of the few in the world that can etch 3-nanometer chips—tiny engines that power everything from F-35 fighters to the iPhone in your pocket. Administration officials, speaking on background, warned that under foreign ownership the plant “could be weaponized to choke U.S. defense supply lines in a future conflict.”
“We are not anti-business; we are pro-America,” Trump declared in the Roosevelt Room, flanked by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and a table stacked with silicon wafers. “If you want our markets, you play by our rules.”
Inside the 72-Hour Sprint That Preceded the Order
According to three people close to the talks, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had been quietly circling the deal for months. The tipping point came when intelligence briefers showed the President classified photos: a Chinese delegation touring NXT’s Dutch headquarters just weeks after Beijing unveiled a $40 billion domestic-chip subsidy package.
- Friday: Oval Office briefing raises “red-flag” risk
- Saturday: CFIUS unanimously recommends forced sale
- Sunday: Draft order re-written at Mar-a-Lago, flown back on Air Force One
Market Shockwaves
NXT’s Amsterdam-listed shares plunged 18 % at the open before trading was halted. U.S. suppliers—among them Applied Materials and Lam Research—shed a combined $12 billion in market cap as investors digested the specter of disrupted orders. Meanwhile, shares of Intel, Micron and GlobalFoundries spiked on bets they could pick up the fab in a fire-sale auction.
What Happens Next
The company has 30 days to submit a divestiture plan; failure triggers asset freezes and daily fines of $1 million. White House aides say they already have “multiple credible bidders,” including a consortium led by Qualcomm and the pension fund CalPERS. If no American buyer emerges, the administration is prepared to place the facility under the stewardship of the Department of Commerce until a sale closes.
Industry veterans warn the plant’s cutting-edge extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines—made solely by Dutch firm ASML—cannot simply be forklifted across borders. “You can’t repatriate a supply chain with a signature,” said Dan Hutcheson, vice chair at TechInsights. “But you can send a message.”
A New Era of Chip Sovereignty
The order lands as Congress debates a $52 billion CHIPS-2.0 package. Lawmakers on both sides now cite the divestment as proof that foreign ownership of critical fabs is “a relic of the globalist era,” as Sen. Marco Rubio put it. Expect more forced sales, tighter export controls, and a race among states to host the next U.S.-owned megafab.
For the 3,200 workers in Oregon, the uncertainty is immediate. NXT has already paused a planned $2 billion expansion; local mayors are lobbying for federal bridge loans to keep contractors on site. Yet in the White House, officials insist the short-term pain buys long-term security. “Silicon,” one senior aide said, “is the new steel.”