Skip to content
spilma
FREN

FCC blocks two devices over Huawei HiSilicon chips

updated 25 Oct 20266 min read

On 22 October 2026 the FCC announced that its Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) had prevented two devices, a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter, from being marketed or sold in the United States. OET had determined that both models contained a chip produced by HiSilicon, a subsidiary of Huawei. The FCC presents this as the first enforcement action under the component rule of Third Report and Order FCC 26-50, in force since 13 October 2026, which bars the authorization of a device containing a logic-bearing hardware component produced by an entity identified on the Covered List, when the device would be barred had that entity produced it. The release names neither the manufacturers nor the models.

In short:

  • What happened: OET acted "this week", in the words of the 22 October release, and kept a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter from being marketed or sold in the US.
  • Why: each model contained a HiSilicon chip. Huawei has been on the Covered List since 12 March 2021, and the list is read to include the subsidiaries and affiliates of the entities it names.
  • The rule: 47 CFR 2.903(b)(2), in force since 13 October 2026. It applies to new equipment authorizations. Equipment authorized before that date may continue to be marketed, imported and used.
  • What is not public: the release gives no manufacturer, model, FCC ID, chip reference or procedural detail, and cites no order or public notice.
  • Next: the FCC says it "will continue to aggressively enforce its Covered List component rules".

What the FCC announced

Section titled “What the FCC announced”

The release says OET acted after determining that the two models contained a chip produced by HiSilicon. It quotes HiSilicon's own description of the chip as "designed for the surveillance market", with built-in detection algorithms for human faces. In a statement, Chairman Brendan Carr credits OET with "preventing this potential spyware from obtaining the approvals necessary for marketing and sale in the U.S."

The FCC calls it the first enforcement action under the rules that took effect on 13 October. The background section of the release explains what changed: for years the rules barred equipment produced by Covered List entities from authorization, "but until recently, those FCC rules have not prohibited otherwise lawful devices from including within them component parts produced by Covered List entities."

What the release leaves out matters for anyone assessing their own exposure. It does not name the manufacturers, the models, their FCC IDs or the chip part number. It does not say whether the devices had applications before a TCB or the Commission, how the chip was identified, or at which step they were stopped. It cites no order, public notice or docket.

The rule applied: 47 CFR 2.903(b)(2)

Section titled “The rule applied: 47 CFR 2.903(b)(2)”

FCC 26-50, adopted on 22 July 2026, rewrote 47 CFR 2.903(b). A device that incorporates "a logic-bearing hardware component produced by an entity identified on the Covered List" is prohibited from obtaining an equipment authorization if the device would itself be prohibited had that entity produced the whole device, rather than just the component.

The definition added to 47 CFR 2.902 is broad. A logic-bearing hardware component is any device, system, module, sub-assembly, integrated circuit or other physical component that generates and uses timing signals or pulses at a rate above 9,000 pulses per second and uses digital techniques, or that generates and uses radio frequency energy for data processing functions such as computation, storage, retrieval or transfer. Because the definition reaches a single integrated circuit, one chip can be enough to keep a whole device from authorization.

HiSilicon is not named on the Covered List. The list attached to DA 26-1154 (23 October 2026) includes, since 12 March 2021, "Telecommunications equipment produced or provided by Huawei Technologies Company, including telecommunications or video surveillance services produced or provided by such entity or using such equipment". A note to the list states that the inclusion of producers or providers named on it "should be read to include the subsidiaries and affiliates of such entities." The FCC's release describes the chip as produced by a Covered List entity, "namely, HiSilicon, a subsidiary of Huawei", which is consistent with that note, though the release does not cite it.

The order also sets a limit (para. 37). The prohibition applies only to components produced by an entity identified on the Covered List. It does not reach components made by companies whose equipment is caught only by the entries defined by place of production, unless the company is otherwise identified on the list, for example through Section 1709 of the FY25 NDAA. The order predates the inverter and robot entries of 28 July and gives drones, drone critical components and routers as its examples.

Which applications and products the rule reaches

Section titled “Which applications and products the rule reaches”

FCC 26-50 makes the component prohibition prospective (para. 38 and 39):

Situation Treatment under FCC 26-50
Application filed on or after 13 October 2026 Subject to § 2.903(b)(2)
Application filed before 13 October 2026 and still pending that day Exempt, decided under the rules in force when it was filed
Pending application amended after 13 October to add, substitute or change a logic-bearing component Treated as a new application, so subject to the prohibition
Equipment authorized before 13 October 2026 Not affected: may continue to be marketed, imported and used under its existing authorization

The exemption for pending applications covers certification and the SDoC process alike. The order directed OET to advise TCBs of the change and to set up procedures for identifying and processing the applications that qualify for the exemption.

What comes next

Section titled “What comes next”

Beyond the statement that enforcement will continue, the release announces no further step. The Third Further Notice attached to FCC 26-50 proposes going further on disclosure: a signed hardware and software bill of materials (HBOM and SBOM) with each application for certification, identifying for each critical component its producer and the locations where it was designed, developed, manufactured, assembled or otherwise produced (proposed § 2.911(d)(9) and (10)). These are proposals only. The other avenues opened by the Further Notice are listed in the July note on FCC 26-50.

What to do

Section titled “What to do”
  1. Screen the bill of materials for Covered List producers, subsidiaries and affiliates included. HiSilicon is not on the list by name: it is caught as a Huawei subsidiary.
  2. Look at who produced each logic-bearing component, not at the brand on the module or board. A module from an unlisted supplier can still carry a chip produced by a listed entity.
  3. Start with video products. The first two cases are a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter, and the FCC cites HiSilicon's own marketing of the chip for surveillance.
  4. Do not change a logic-bearing component in an application pending since before 13 October. The amendment would turn it into a new application under the new rule.
  5. Treat every new filing as in scope. Existing grants are unaffected, but a new application, for example for a revised model under a new FCC ID, is assessed under § 2.903(b)(2).
  6. Organize component data by producer and production location. That is the information the HBOM and SBOM proposals would require if adopted.

Going further

Section titled “Going further”

Sources & references

  1. FCC Blocks Two Devices Containing Foreign Surveillance Chips, news release, 22 October 2026, Federal Communications Commission docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-426130A1.pdf
  2. Third Report and Order and Third Further Notice, FCC 26-50, ET Docket 21-232, Federal Communications Commission docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-26-50A1.pdf
  3. DA 26-1154, Covered List and Conditional Approvals as of 23 October 2026 (Appendices A and B), Federal Communications Commission docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-1154A1.pdf