FCC Updates Covered List To Include Foreign-Produced Advanced Robotic Devices And Power Inverters On National Security Grounds

Executive Summary

• What’s new: On July 28, 2026, the FCC updated its Covered List to include two new categories of foreign-produced devices — advanced robotic devices and power inverters — based on “national security determinations” by the executive branch finding that these devices pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.
• Why it matters: Covered equipment in these two categories cannot receive FCC authorization unless the Department of War or Department of Homeland Security grants a “Conditional Approval.” This action — the third action taken by the FCC to target broad categories of products for restriction since December 2025 — is expected to have a significant effect on the U.S. market for covered robotic devices and power inverters.
• What to do next: Companies will want to assess contracts involving the purchase and sale of affected products on a forward-looking basis and may want to consider seeking Conditional Approval if needed, as well as the relevance of change-in-law doctrines.

__________

Background

Pursuant to the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) maintains a list of communications equipment and services that are deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or to the security and safety of U.S. persons (the Covered List). Initially the FCC’s practice was to name products from specific foreign entities on the Covered List. More recently, however, the FCC has imposed blanket restrictions on categories of products, such as foreign-produced uncrewed aircraft systems, routers, and now robotic systems and power inverters. The FCC published the latest update on July 28, 2026, which is the third action taken by the FCC to target broad categories of products for restriction since December 2025. The FCC also publishes “national security determinations” with justification for its restriction and permission actions, which rest on two main considerations: supply chain vulnerability and cybersecurity risk.

Scope of the New Restrictions

In updating the Covered List, the FCC published several important clarifications that will affect the scope of coverage.

The action applies to all foreign-produced power inverters and advanced robotic devices. The FCC’s definition of “foreign-produced” includes anything not considered a “domestic end product” under the Buy American Act (i.e., a product that is (i) manufactured in the United States and (ii) where the cost of its domestic components exceeds 65% of the total cost of all components).

A power inverter is defined as a device that: (i) converts direct current (DC) electricity into alternating current (AC) electricity, or vice versa, including microinverters, string inverters, central inverters and hybrid (battery-based) inverters; and (ii) contains components enabling remote communication, control, sensing, data collection or monitoring via Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth or similar connections.

Advanced robotic devices include any mechanical mobile device (including autonomous mobile robots, humanoid robots, and quadrupeds) that: (i) is capable of locomotion, obstacle avoidance, navigation or movement on the ground; (ii) operates at a distance from a human operator or supervisor based on commands or in response to sensor data, or any combination thereof; (iii) has a combined weight of the device (and, if applicable, its ground station or docking station) exceeding 4.4 lbs; and (iv) contains one or more components from each of the following categories: (x) a sensor capable of perceiving its environment, (y) a component capable of providing network connectivity (wired or wireless, including Bluetooth/Wi-Fi, cellular or satellite) with connection speeds of at least 200 kbps in either direction, and (z) software, running either locally or remotely, that controls the robot’s autonomous navigation, movement, perception, data collection or remote command-and-control.

Notably, the definition of advanced robotic devices expressly excludes certain connected vehicles, rail vehicles, uncrewed aircraft and aircraft systems and unmanned underwater vehicles; surgical instruments and medical or surgical robotic systems; external limb prostheses; ambulatory and mobility assistive devices; and certain fixed, stationary robots intended for industrial or medical use.

The action does not affect equipment models that have already received FCC authorization. Consumers may continue using previously acquired devices, and retailers may continue selling, importing and marketing previously approved models. The Covered List update also does not restrict the purchase or use of power inverters or advanced robotic devices by the federal government. Additionally, the import of small batches of unauthorized prototype products that would otherwise be covered is permitted if done solely for product development or testing purposes, and provided that such devices are not marketed or sold.

The Conditional Approval Process

Producers of covered foreign-produced power inverters and advanced robotic devices may apply for a “Conditional Approval” (to the Department of War (DoW)¹ or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for power inverters, and to the DoW alone for advanced robotic devices), which, if granted, would exempt their devices from Covered List restrictions.

The required disclosures to receive approval are extensive and fall into three categories:

• Corporate structure disclosure. The producer must disclose its legal name, jurisdiction(s) of incorporation, principal place of business, complete ownership structure, beneficial owners holding 5% or more equity, information regarding board members and executive leadership, and disclosure of any foreign government ownership, control, influence, financing or material support.
• Manufacturing and supply chain disclosure. The producer must disclose a detailed bill of materials for the device; the country of origin for all components in the device and for the device’s design; the entities responsible for IP ownership and software updates; justification for why the device is not manufactured in the United States, including why foreign sources were chosen and whether alternatives exist; the locations of manufacturing, final assembly and testing; the country of origin for onboard software and firmware; quantitative supply chain concentration by country; and identification of any single points of failure in the supply chain for the device, including sole-source suppliers, the country of those sole-source suppliers and a description of contingency plans if those suppliers become unavailable.
• U.S. manufacturing and onshoring plan. The producer must disclose a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand U.S.-based manufacturing; a designated point of contact providing quarterly status updates on the onshoring plan; a description of existing U.S.-based manufacturing and assembly operations; committed or planned capital expenditures over the next one to five years, including hiring, facility expansion and planned investment; and, for renewal applicants, an inventory of progress under any prior approvals.

We expect that the DoW and DHS will consider the applicant’s country of nationality and ownership, supply chain resilience and the nature of the specific product that is the subject of the approval as key factors in its review, with each decision made on a case-by-case basis. No conditional approvals have yet been granted in this context, so specific timing for reviews of advanced robotic devices and power inverters remains to be seen. The timeline in other contexts can vary widely depending on the nature of the applicant and the equipment that is the subject of the application. As a reference point, in the parallel restricted router context, the DoW granted 17 conditional approvals in the last three months since introducing the new restrictions, and the number of applications under review is unclear.

We anticipate that the FCC will publish any conditional approvals granted for advanced robotic devices and power inverters, similar to how it has publicly listed conditional approvals for routers and uncrewed aircraft systems.

The new restrictions may have impacts on contracts involving the purchase and sale of affected products, and could give rise to claims under change-in-law and similar doctrines. Companies will want to review the impacts on their products and/or their contractual commitments on a forward-looking basis.

Footnote

1. Congress has not yet acted on the administration’s renaming of the Department of Defense.