A humanoid robotic from Robostore joins CNBC’s Energy Lunch on Dec. 30, 2025.
CNBC
BEIJING — The U.S. Federal Communications Fee has repeatedly ignored Beijing’s restrained stance on product bans, China’s commerce ministry mentioned Thursday, threatening retaliation.
The FCC on Tuesday mentioned attributable to cybersecurity issues, it added foreign-made superior robotic gadgets, together with humanoids, to a listing limiting imports to the U.S. The assertion didn’t specify a rustic, and mentioned retailers may nonetheless import fashions the FCC has beforehand authorized.
Because the FCC retains escalating restrictions on Chinese language items, it “severely damages China-U.S. financial and commerce stability,” China’s commerce ministry mentioned in an internet assertion Thursday. That is in response to a CNBC translation of Mandarin.
The ministry urged the U.S. to withdraw the choice, and threatened countermeasures if it failed to take action.
“That is dangerous information for Chinese language humanoid producers planning their IPOs within the coming months,” mentioned Marc Einstein, a analysis director at Counterpoint Analysis. “The 2 main playing cards China can play are to additional limit uncommon earth gross sales to American firms and additional limiting Chinese language market entry for American firms like Tesla and NVIDIA.”
The commerce ministry’s assertion comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to host Chinese language President Xi Jinping in September. Tensions over the tech race have in the meantime intensified, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the U.S. may sanction China over AI mannequin “theft.”
Trump on Thursday indicated in public feedback that the U.S. may take a extra cautious stance on AI controls with a view to preserve American tech management over China.
Chinese language firms Agibot, Unitree and UBTech accounted for the top-three humanoid firms by set up market share final yr, in response to Counterpoint. Tesla’s Optimus ranked fifth.
Hong Kong-listed UBTech shares briefly fell greater than 6% in Thursday morning buying and selling. Unitree and Agibot have filed to go public.
Robostore, a distributor of Chinese language humanoid robots in North America, has been making ready by increasing its U.S.-based capabilities, CEO Teddy Haggerty mentioned in an announcement to CNBC. He didn’t elaborate on particulars.
—CNBC’s Matthew Tan contributed to this report.
