Chinese-made parts underpin products used across the United States, even as federal restrictions spread across robotics, vehicles and consumer devices. The rules aim to protect sensitive data and encourage domestic manufacturing. Yet companies and consumers face higher costs, longer waits and fewer alternatives as U.S. production tries to replace established Chinese supply chains.
Restrictions Expand
In July, the Federal Communications Commission added power inverters and advanced robotics to its restricted foreign-made technology list. That robotics category includes humanoid machines that can run, jump, dance and fight. The FCC’s mobile-robot restrictions also cover new versions of robot vacuums, pool cleaners and lawn mowers, most of which China makes.
The United States has also forbidden cars that use Chinese software and imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles. Similar tariffs on drones took effect last month, after a ban on new models in December. Officials cite protecting sensitive consumer and government data and encouraging domestic manufacturing.
The restrictions reach well beyond household goods. U.S. companies that depend on Chinese components are hunting for alternative suppliers, even when bans don’t currently cover their products. Seven years after founding a robotics startup in San Francisco, Rajat Bhageria is trying to build robots without Chinese components. Chef Robotics relies heavily on Chinese parts for the robot arms it sells to food manufacturers.
Domestic Production and Costs
Bhageria said Chef Robotics handles final assembly in the United States, but China makes all the machine utensil components attached to its robot arms. He tried to move production last year as tariffs on Chinese imports rose. But U.S. production of the plastic grabbers would cost too much, and many suppliers outside China couldn’t fill the order. “We will even talk to some really good machine shops in the US and they’re like, ‘We can’t do this,’” he said.
Decades of outsourcing have left U.S. manufacturers unprepared to meet demand, the article says. Ben Armstrong, executive director of MIT’s Industrial Performance Center, said U.S. companies don’t know how to make many of the products they need. “There will be a learning curve, and during that learning curve process, the price will be high,” he said.
Moving production of some micro display screens from China to the United States took more than two years, said Michael Murray, chief executive of Kopin Corporation. He estimated U.S. production costs as much as 25% more, though Department of Defense funding offset the cost of shifting the supply chain. China can make more micro displays in one week than the United States can produce in a year, Murray said.
Supply Risks Reach Industry and Consumers
Ghost Robotics has shifted motor production from China to South Korea and buys neodymium magnets from a European company, Gavin Kenneally said. But the raw material still comes from China, and a government ban will cover it starting in January. “It’s an extremely difficult supply chain problem to solve in the short term,” Kenneally said. He also said the policies had a stimulative effect in the long term.
Industry executives and analysts warned that restricted access to China’s supply chain could slow U.S. progress in advanced industries such as AI and robotics, along with traditional manufacturing. Saman Farid, founder of industry coalition Robots for America and Formic, said a Chinese company may reach its third prototype by the time an American company builds its first. If alternatives aren’t created quickly enough, he warned, restrictions could become “a real stumbling block for American businesses.”
Universities and research labs may face higher costs or fewer options, too. Sayan Mitra, an engineering professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said several courses use Chinese robotic arms, drones, humanoids and vehicles. Replacing Chinese humanoids with U.S. models could cost 10 times more, he said, while other drone options might not exist.
Moving mobile-robot production to the United States would probably cost a great deal, said Jitesh Ubrani, director of consumer devices research at IDC. “The US consumers end up just paying a whole lot more,” he said.