FCC bans new Chinese humanoid robots and power inverters over AI supply-chain risk

The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday unveiled import bans on new Chinese humanoid and quadruped robots and on connected power inverters, measures the Trump administration cast as protection for the U.S. AI buildout and critical infrastructure, Reuters reported. The restrictions, first reported by Reuters, took effect on publication and apply to robot and inverter models not yet released. The FCC said the devices could create supply-chain vulnerabilities and cybersecurity risk to American critical infrastructure. Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency would keep working to secure critical supply chains. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond, Reuters said. The robot rules are expected to hit Unitree, which Counterpoint Research puts at just under a fifth of global humanoid market share and which was recently added to a Pentagon list of alleged Chinese military-backed companies. Unitree has partnered with Nvidia to use Blackwell chips in a robot brain; Nvidia has said robot data would remain in the U.S. and that Unitree's biggest customers are U.S. academic and research institutions. China leads inverter manufacturing, with Sungrow and Huawei among major suppliers. The FCC is expected to exempt many non-Chinese suppliers, as it has for foreign drones and routers, four additional sources told Reuters. Unitree, Sungrow and Huawei did not immediately comment.