The US Federal Communications Commission has voted unanimously to advance a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the US.
The agency says about 75% of all US electronics are tested in China and plans to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in US labs or labs from countries not posing national security risks.
In a separate 3-0 vote, the commission advanced a proposal to bar China Mobile China Telecom and China Unicom from operating data centres in the US and could ban telecoms carriers from interconnecting with companies on its national security “covered list”.
Previously, the FCC barred the three companies from operating in the US.
The FCC said it was also considering barring interconnection with companies that own data centres or points of presence at US internet exchange points, extending restrictions to some affiliates of listed firms, and prohibiting interconnection with carriers using equipment from suppliers on the national security list including Huawei and ZTE.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr said the commission is considering a series of actions “to secure our networks from these bad actors, including limiting their interconnection ability”.
Banned
The moves build on previous actions to clamp down on Beijing, including earlier this month a proposal to ban the import of equipment from Chinese manufacturers on the “covered list”, after barring approvals of new models by those companies in 2022.
Read: China is closing in on US tech lead despite constraints
In October, the FCC moved to revoke the ability of HKT, a leading Hong Kong telecoms carrier and subsidiary of PCCW, to operate in the US. In December, it banned the import of all new models of Chinese drones and last month it banned imports of new models of Chinese-made consumer routers, the boxes connecting computers, phones and smart devices to the internet. — David Shepardson, (c) 2026 Reuters
Get breaking news from TechCentral on WhatsApp. Sign up here.