Trump bans new Chinese humanoid robotics to protect US AI development

U.S. officials have said that the 'Trump Administration' plans to announce bans on imports of Chinese robots and inverters to protect U.S. AI from a?national-security threat and to reshore industries slated for a?explosive increase.

According to the people, on Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Communications Commission plans to "roll out" the measures that bar Chinese imports for new humanoid robots and quadruped robots, as well as connected power inverters which allow renewable energy sources, batteries, and grids to be connected to data center equipment and grids.

The Trump administration's new restrictions, which were not previously announced, are aimed at protecting the U.S. artificial-intelligence supply chain against Chinese cyber-attacks and threats, as well as preventing disruption, data theft, and other attacks.

The President has stated that the United States needs independent and secure supply chain for emerging and critical technologies such as robotic devices and power converters. An administration official who declined to be identified because the issue was not made public said this.

He added, "Economic Security is National Security. The Trump Administration continues to implement nuanced and multiple-faceted policies to reindustrialize America."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a comment request.

Analysts predict that AI-enabled robots with humanoid brains will be widely adopted in the consumer and industrial sectors, while data centers in the U.S. are expected to boom due to reliable sources of inverters.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that U.S. sanctions could be imposed on Chinese AI companies for stealing U.S. Intellectual Property.

U.S. officials also want to avoid a repeat of the situation with rare earths minerals, which are so important for tech manufacturing and dominated by China. Beijing has been able to use their access to these critical inputs to achieve big wins internationally.

FCC LIKELY EXEMPT SUPPLIERS OTHER THAN CHINESE

Four additional sources confirmed that as part of the measures to be announced Tuesday, the FCC will ban the import of foreign models of "targeted" technologies. It is expected to then exempt many non Chinese suppliers from these restrictions, just like it did with the recent bans against foreign drones and routers.

Another U.S. official confirmed that the restrictions will only apply to models of robots and inverters which have not been released yet. The FCC can revoke sales authorizations of models which have already been approved for purchase in the United States. Donald Trump has been credited for bringing attention to the technology threat that China poses during his first term. He raised concerns about the theft of intellectual property by Chinese companies and the threat from state-sponsored spying.

He has taken a more dovish stance during his second term in response to Beijing's aggressive export controls last year on rare earth minerals.

CHINESE ROBOT MAKER IN CROISSHAIRS

According to Counterpoint Research, the robot ban will hit Unitree - a global leader in humanoid robotics, with just under one fifth of the global market share.

The Pentagon recently added the firm to its list of alleged Chinese military-backed firms, which could be a sign of more aggressive U.S. actions.

Unitree and Nvidia recently formed a partnership to use Nvidia's Blackwell chip, a cutting-edge AI chip from the company to power the brains of Unitree robots. Nvidia said that data from robots would remain in the U.S., and that Unitree's largest customers were U.S. research and academic institutions.

China hawks are concerned that robots may spy on U.S. key industries and send data to Beijing, or disrupt their core functions.

China is the largest manufacturer of inverters in the world, with Sungrow Power Supply, Huawei and other companies. The U.S. has heavily sanctioned them. Beijing's aggressive price-cutting strategy has allowed it to expand its market share in Western inverter markets. The FCC has been working on a Chinese inverter banning, following recent European action and concerns about disruption and malware installation. Authorities are trying to prevent another hacking campaign linked to the Chinese government, like Volt Typhoon that was revealed in 2023. The attackers wanted to conceal future attacks on American critical infrastructure by taking over privately owned routers.

The U.S. Department of Defense has already been prohibited from purchasing solar photovoltaic modules, cells or inverters made by foreign entities of concern. This would include Chinese firms.

Unitree Sungrow, and Huawei didn't immediately respond to comments.

(source: Reuters)