Three days after US airlines banned passengers from bringing humanoid robots onto commercial flights, the Federal Communications Commission barred the robots from entering the country at all. The July 28 rule adds advanced robotic devices and connected power inverters to the agency’s national security Covered List, blocking new imports of foreign-made humanoids, quadrupeds, and grid-connected energy equipment from sale in the United States.
The ban targets two categories not previously covered. Advanced robotic devices include bipedal humanoids, four-legged quadrupeds, and other robotic systems with networked capabilities such as cameras, sensors, and wireless connectivity. Connected power inverters convert direct current from solar panels, batteries, and renewable sources into alternating current for the power grid and data center equipment. The restrictions apply to newly imported devices not yet authorized for sale; existing models already on the market remain grandfather-approved.
Chinese manufacturers dominate both categories. Six of the world’s ten largest humanoid robotics companies are Chinese, and collectively Chinese firms account for approximately 87 percent of global humanoid shipments. Unitree, the hardest-hit company, shipped over 5,000 of the roughly 15,000 humanoid robots delivered worldwide in 2025 and had recently partnered with Nvidia to integrate Blackwell chips into its platforms. Agibot, another Chinese maker, also shipped over 5,000 units. Their US counterparts, Tesla, Figure AI, and Agility Robotics, shipped only a few hundred units each in the same period.
On the power inverter side, roughly one-third of inverters imported into the United States in 2024 came directly from China. Huawei is the world’s largest inverter manufacturer, followed by Sungrow Power Supply. Both are now blocked from selling new models in the US market.
The FCC cited three categories of concern. Networked robotic systems with cameras and wireless links could be leveraged for surveillance, the agency argued, and their software stacks create vectors for remote manipulation of the physical devices. Connected power inverters, if compromised, could enable grid disruption or data theft through the same supply-chain channels exploited in the Volt Typhoon hacking campaign, in which Chinese state actors used compromised networking hardware to hide intrusions into US critical infrastructure.
The rule expands the Secure Networks Act of 2020, the same statutory framework used to ban foreign-made drones and, earlier this year, consumer routers. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the measures were coordinated with national security agencies and would protect the US artificial intelligence supply chain from data theft and cyberattacks.
China’s Foreign Ministry condemned the move, with spokesperson Mao Ning arguing that Washington is overstretching the concept of national security to suppress Chinese companies. Beijing warned it will take all measures necessary to defend its businesses. The robotics ban arrives ahead of a planned Trump-Xi summit in September, where technology tensions are expected to be a central flashpoint.
Analysts expect the ban to accelerate the domestic robotics industry rather than meaningfully slow Chinese development. Morningstar analyst Kangyuxiao Li noted that restricting Chinese robot access to the US market removes an important future revenue stream for those companies and protects American developers from price competition, but will not materially impede China’s overall robotics progress given the size of its domestic manufacturing base and access to other export markets.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s order also noted that non-Chinese suppliers of both robots and inverters are expected to receive exemptions, following the same pattern the agency established with its earlier router ban. Companies seeking to import covered devices must apply for a national security determination through the Department of War.
Sources: US is banning foreign robots (The Verge, Jul 28); Trump admin bans humanoid robot imports from China (Interesting Engineering, Jul 28); US bans Chinese humanoid robots, drones (Reuters, Jul 28); FCC adds robots, inverters to Covered List (BBC, Jul 28)