The US regulator has used new enforcement powers for the first time to bar two connected devices containing surveillance chips made by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon.
The US Federal Communications Commission has blocked two devices from the American market after determining that they contained surveillance chips made by HiSilicon, the Huawei subsidiary, in the first use of new enforcement powers intended to keep high-risk foreign hardware out of the country. The agency said the affected products were a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter, and that the chips were marketed as suitable for the surveillance sector, including features such as facial detection algorithms.
FCC chair Brendan Carr said equipment using chips from companies on the regulator’s national security list presented “an obvious and unacceptable risk” to the country and its citizens. The commission’s action is part of a broader hardening of US policy towards Chinese technology, with officials increasingly arguing that connected devices can be used not only for commercial monitoring but also for intelligence collection and remote access.
The decision follows a series of earlier restrictions on Chinese technology firms. In 2022, the FCC adopted final rules barring the sale or import of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, Hikvision and Hytera, after concluding that such products could pose an unacceptable national security risk. More recently, in July 2026, the commission expanded its approach by moving to bar humanoid and other advanced Chinese robots, saying they could be used to surveil Americans, support foreign intelligence work or be taken over remotely.
Huawei has long rejected US security accusations. In earlier disputes, the company criticised Washington for making unsupported claims about espionage and challenged restrictions in court, while US agencies continued to tighten controls on its access to the American market. The latest ruling shows that the policy has moved beyond telecoms infrastructure and into broader categories of connected hardware, as Washington seeks to limit the reach of Chinese components in consumer and industrial devices.
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