By Alexandra Alper
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday plans to unveil bans that target imports of new Chinese robots and power inverters, seeking to protect the U.S. AI buildout from national security threats and reshore key industries slated for explosive growth, U.S. officials said.
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday afternoon plans to roll out the measures, which bar Chinese imports of new humanoid and quadruped robots — in addition to connected power
inverters, which enable renewable energy sources and batteries to connect to grids and data center equipment, the people said.
The restrictions, whose imminent release has not been previously reported, show the Trump administration is aiming to safeguard the U.S. artificial intelligence supply chain from Chinese threats of disruption, data theft and cyberattacks, while also driving firms to shift manufacturing to the U.S.
"The President has made clear that the United States must have independent and secure supply chains for critical and emerging technologies like robotic devices and power inverters," said an administration official, who declined to be named because the matter was not public.
"Economic security is national security, and the Trump administration continues to implement a nuanced and multi-faceted policy agenda to reindustrialize America," he added.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Humanoid robots, topped with AI-enabled "brains," are forecast by some analysts for broad adoption in consumer and industrial arenas, while explosive data-center construction in the U.S. will depend on reliable sources of inverters.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that Chinese AI firms could face U.S. sanctions for stealing U.S. intellectual property.
U.S. officials are also keen to avoid another scenario as happened with rare earth minerals — critical inputs for tech manufacturing so dominated by China that Beijing has been able to leverage access to them to secure big wins on the international stage.
FCC LIKELY TO EXEMPT NON-CHINESE SUPPLIERS
As part of the measures slated to be announced on Tuesday, the FCC will ban foreign imports of new models of targeted technologies and is then expected to exempt many non-Chinese suppliers from the restrictions, as it has done with recent bans on foreign drones and routers, four additional sources said.
The restrictions, which will go into effect upon publication, will apply only to robot and inverter models that have not yet been released, another U.S. official said. However, the FCC has the authority to revoke authorizations for sales of models that have already been authorized for purchase in the United States.
President Donald Trump is credited with bringing international attention to the tech threat posed by China during his first term, giving voice to concerns about intellectual property theft by Chinese firms, and the threat of state-sponsored spying by Chinese telecom juggernauts like Huawei .
But he has so far taken a much more dovish approach during his second term, faced with Beijing's aggressive use of export controls on rare earth minerals last year.
CHINESE ROBOT MAKER IN CROSSHAIRS
The robot ban is expected to hit Unitree, a world leader in humanoid robots with just under a fifth of global market share, according to Counterpoint Research.
The firm, which is one of three Chinese companies dominating the nascent but buzzy industry, was recently added to the Pentagon's list of alleged Chinese military-backed companies, which can be a harbinger of tougher U.S. action.
Unitree recently formed a partnership with Nvidia to use the AI chip company's cutting-edge Blackwell chip to power the brain of a Unitree robot. Nvidia has said data from the robots will remain in the U.S. and that Unitree's biggest customers are U.S. academic and research institutions.
China hawks fear the robots could spy on key U.S. industries, exfiltrating data to Beijing or disrupting their key functions.
China is the world’s largest maker of inverters, led by Sungrow Power Supply and Huawei, already heavily sanctioned by the U.S. Beijing has been expanding its share in the Western inverter market by driving down prices.
Reuters previously reported that the FCC was working on a Chinese inverter ban, inspired by recent action by Europe and concerns around disruption and installation of malware.
Authorities want to avoid another Chinese government-linked hacking campaign like the one dubbed Volt Typhoon, revealed in 2023. By taking control of privately owned routers, the attackers sought to hide subsequent attacks on American critical infrastructure.
The U.S. Department of Defense is already barred from procuring solar photovoltaic cells, modules or inverters manufactured by a foreign entity of concern, which would include Chinese companies.
Unitree, Sungrow and Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Alexandra Alper in Washington; Additional reporting by Sarah McFarlane and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis)
