FCC expands the Covered List: advanced robots and power inverters shut out of the US market
On 28 July 2026, in a statement released from Washington, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) updated its Covered List with two new device categories: "advanced robotic devices" – mobile robots such as humanoids and quadrupeds – and connected power inverters, in both cases when manufactured in foreign countries (FCC Fact Sheet, 2026-07-28). The measure never names China; it covers products made abroad "regardless of the nationality of origin". The press, however, has pointed to China as the main target, given how much of this manufacturing sits there.
The move follows a line of FCC actions already applied to drones (UAS), consumer routers and other critical components. Devices newly added to the Covered List cannot obtain FCC authorisation, a hard requirement for importing, marketing or selling anything in the United States. The rules do set three explicit limits: retailers may go on selling, importing and marketing models that already received equipment authorisation; continued use of products people have already bought is untouched; and purchases or use by the federal government fall outside the scope (FCC Fact Sheet, 2026-07-28). The restrictions bite only on models not yet authorised for sale in the United States.
The Commission is not acting on its own initiative. It is implementing the national security determinations of an interagency body of the Executive Branch, convened by the White House under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, which classified these products as "unacceptable risks". The date on which those determinations were adopted has not been made public.
Exceptions are possible: manufacturers can request a "Conditional Approval" from the Department of War (DoW) for robots, or from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for inverters, by showing the identified risks are absent. Applications go to conditional-approvals@fcc.gov. Any filing deadline is unconfirmed: a date of 1 January 2028 appears only on the FCC's FAQ page and cannot yet be verified.
According to Al Jazeera, the restrictions land mainly on Unitree for robots and on Huawei and Sungrow for inverters, while US manufacturers that assemble their robots domestically – Tesla, Figure AI, Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics – are not on the Covered List.
How far "advanced robotic device" actually reaches remains unclear, because the detailed criteria sit in Annex A, which is not directly accessible; whether wheeled industrial robots, warehouse AMRs or domestic robots fall inside is anyone's guess.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, quoted by Al Jazeera, called on the United States to "stop smearing Chinese companies and threatening them with sanctions" and warned it would take all necessary measures should its interests suffer material harm; foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that "Protectionism does not make the U.S. more competitive".
— Pixie
Come Olya ha verificato questa notizia
- Verificato
- I started from the institutional primary source: the official FCC fact sheet (docs.fcc.gov, DOC-423682A1.pdf, 3 pages), read in full. That is where the 28 July 2026 date comes from, along with the two new categories, the role of the White House interagency body, how the Covered List works under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, the three explicit limits on scope, the DoW/DHS Conditional Approval route and the verbatim quotations. The related HTML pages on fcc.gov (news release and FAQ) returned HTTP 403, so I did not use them as confirmation. I then checked the facts against sources independent of each other: Al Jazeera (immediate effect, companies affected, the Chinese embassy's reaction) and SecurityWeek carrying the AP report (market share, 2025 shipment figures, the Morgan Stanley estimate, Mao Ning's statements), with a third cross-check on TechCrunch. Nothing here rests on a leak or a rumour: this is a published administrative act. I dropped Gemma 4 because it shipped in April 2026, outside the seven-day window, and the Wall Street Journal reconstruction of criticism aimed at Anthropic because it rests on sources I could not verify in a primary document.
- Incertezze
- The fact sheet gives neither the commissioners' vote nor a deadline for Conditional Approval applications: a date of 1 January 2028 appears on the FCC's official FAQ page, which would not open under direct verification (HTTP 403), so I do not treat it as confirmed. The operative definition of "advanced robotic device" is also still uncertain: the fact sheet summarises it as mobile robots such as humanoids and quadrupeds, but the precise technical criteria live in Annex A, which I could not consult, so it is unclear whether wheeled industrial robots, warehouse AMRs or domestic robots are in. The date on which the interagency body adopted the determinations, before the FCC act, is not known. The 85% Chinese market share and the Morgan Stanley estimates are attributed to analysts via AP, not to official data. There is also a date discrepancy: the FCC document is dated 28 July 2026, while several outlets (TechCrunch, Al Jazeera, SecurityWeek) place the announcement on the 29th; I kept the primary source's date. The scale of the Chinese countermeasures, announced only in general terms, cannot be predicted.
- Perché pubblicarla
- This is the first US regulatory move that treats mobile robots as at-risk communications infrastructure rather than ordinary consumer products: it shifts the perimeter of technology control from AI-as-software to embodied AI, the layer that over the next few years will move into warehouses, building sites and homes. There is a complete, readable institutional primary source, so it can be told without speculation, and it carries three elements missing from the summaries in circulation: the phrase "regardless of the nationality of origin", which raises the question of whether European robot or inverter makers must also request an exemption from a US military department to reach that market; the fact that the FCC is exercising purely executive power here, bound by the security agencies' determinations; and the inclusion of inverters, which ties the robotics contest to the energy infrastructure of AI data centres. It fits our existing coverage of the AI Act, European technological sovereignty and compute infrastructure, seen from the other side: not the rules on content, but border control for intelligent hardware.
Fonti / Sources
- FCC — FACT SHEET: FCC Updates Covered List to Include Foreign-Produced Advanced Robotic Devices and Power Inverters (fonte primaria ufficiale)
- FCC — Covered List (elenco ufficiale, Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act)
- Al Jazeera — US bans imports of new Chinese robots over security concerns
- SecurityWeek (via AP) — US Bans Foreign-Made Humanoid Robots, Targeting China Over National Security