On July 28, the US Federal Communications Commission updated its “Covered List,” adding foreign-made advanced robotics — humanoids and quadrupeds — and grid-tied power inverters. The stated rationale was familiar: supply-chain vulnerabilities, cyber risk, threats to critical infrastructure.
Officially the rule names “foreign-made” equipment. But Reuters, the BBC and Politico all put China in the headline, and the mechanism mirrors earlier drone and home-router bans: nominally universal, in practice aimed at Chinese firms, with an exemption path for non-Chinese manufacturers.
Two details matter. First, the ban covers only new models — units already certified and on sale in the US are unaffected. Second, there is a conditional exemption: foreign companies can apply to the US Department of Defense for a security review and be removed from the list. This is not a blanket embargo; it closes the door to new-model entry while leaving the FCC power to revoke existing certifications at will.
The two named categories are telling. On humanoids, Unitree stands out with close to a fifth of the global market. On inverters, Huawei and Sungrow hold nearly 80 percent of the global market, and about 90 percent of US utility-scale inverters are imported. These are two of China’s strongest hands in the global tech contest.
The “security” framing is thin. In February, the US Department of Energy dismantled 30 Chinese inverters and found “no conclusive evidence of intentionally introduced malicious communications functions” — and noted a single inverter couldn’t affect the grid even if compromised. The agency’s own technical team cleared them; the administrative action went ahead anyway.
The timing is the tell. Five days before the ban, Foundation Future Industries — a robot company invested in by Donald Trump Jr. — announced an AMD partnership to build military and industrial humanoids and secured a 24 million dollar US military contract. The administrative barrier buys domestic industry time: US inverter brands hold only about 10 percent of their home market, and rebuilding the supply chain takes at least five years.
For the Chinese companies, the immediate hit is real but not fatal. Unitree’s US revenue share is lower than often assumed, and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East are growing fast — the ban only accelerates diversification away from a single market. And the US itself needs those inverters: more than 58 gigawatts of solar and storage are planned for connection next year, and uncertified equipment means idle sites. The final bill lands with American taxpayers.
From chips to drones, routers to humanoids and inverters, the US technology blockade list keeps lengthening. And every previous round pushed Chinese firms toward self-substitution and market diversification. This one will almost certainly do the same — industries shielded by executive order rarely grow up strong.
*Translated and adapted from OFweek Robotics (https://robot.ofweek.com/2026-07/ART-8321206-8110-30696296.html).*