FCC bans two gadgets over Huawei chip

The Federal Communications Commission has banned two consumer electronics products from US sale and marketing. This action marks the first time the agency has enforced a rule based on the specific chips inside a device rather than the brand or model name on the box. The two products are a dashboard camera and a wireless video transmitter.

Both items were blocked because they contain a HiSilicon Smart Vision system on a chip, or SoC. HiSilicon is a subsidiary of Huawei. Huawei and its subsidiaries appear on the FCC Covered List, a roster of entities deemed a risk to US national security.

The new regulatory approach aims to close a loophole. Previously, manufacturers could rebrand products containing parts from Chinese firms on US export restriction lists and still sell them. By targeting the silicon itself, the FCC no longer needs to track every individual product label or revision.

The specific chip at issue is the Hi3516CV610 UHD Smart Vision. It is designed for surveillance and camera products, including vehicle dashcams and wireless CCTV systems. The SoC integrates WiFi, Ethernet, video encoding hardware, an Arm Cortex-A7 processor, and a neural processing unit for artificial intelligence functions.

The FCC cites the neural processing unit as the primary concern. The agency defines this component as a device containing logic-bearing smart components made by entities on the Covered List. According to the chip's data sheet, its Intelligent Video Engine runs on the NPU. It uses a built-in dedicated multimodal large model and transformer feature acceleration.

This configuration allows the AI to understand relationships between objects across video frames. The system maintains attention on related subjects such as pets, faces, human figures, and parcels. For a consumer, this feature could help a camera distinguish between a pet escaping and an unknown person taking a package left by a courier.

The FCC believes the same logic-bearing AI capabilities could be used for foreign surveillance. The agency argues that the technology could survey US citizens and log faces for external monitoring.

Huawei has faced scrutiny before for its AI chips. The company used shell companies to deceive TSMC into manufacturing AI chips despite US requests to stop supplying certain Chinese customers. That episode contributed to other product bans in the United States.

Public reaction to the new ban was mixed. Some readers criticized the move as protectionism or questioned if American surveillance differs from foreign surveillance. Others asked if the FCC authority covers only wireless devices. A commenter noted that the Communications Act of 1934 directs the FCC to protect both wired and wireless communications. Another argued that bans should have targeted silicon from the start due to the many revisions and regional variants a single product can have.

The FCC issued the bans on October 23, 2026. The devices are now barred from being sold or marketed in the US under the new chip-level rule.