Dive Brief:
- The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday greenlit Intel’s request for a waiver allowing the chipmaker to use and make modifications to automated guided vehicles from other countries for one year across its U.S. operations.
- The FCC granted the waiver Oct. 22 to prevent potential disruptions to Intel’s semiconductor manufacturing operations, according to the agency’s order. Intel said the robotics outlined in its petition lack domestic alternatives, and the process to replace them could take years.
- Intel filed a request as a precautionary measure after the FCC this summer banned “foreign-produced” industrial robots from being imported or sold in the United States. The waiver took effect immediately upon approval.
Dive Insight:
Intel is one of the latest companies to obtain FCC approval to continue modifying and using imports of advanced robotics through October 2027.
The agency in July added humanoids, quadrupeds and other industrial robots, as well as power inverters, to a covered list of equipment and services that pose national security risks.
Equipment on the list are blocked from getting FCC authorization, which is required for a robotics product to be imported, marketed or sold in the U.S., according to the agency’s website. Goods added to the covered list that previously received FCC authorization are not prohibited, but new models and software or firmware updates are.
The updated covered list coincided with a sweeping waiver allowing companies to continue receiving firmware and software updates that mitigate harm to U.S. consumers for certain robotics through Jan. 1, 2029. Intel filed a separate petition on Oct. 16 seeking additional relief.
In Intel’s request, the company said it was “unclear whether the specific AGVs at issue qualify as Covered Advanced Robotics Devices, [but] seeks relief out of an abundance of caution to ensure continued operation of those units.”
Intel sent a confidential appendix of robots for consideration along with its petition to the FCC.
Less than a week later, the agency granted Intel’s request to make “maintenance, updates or component replacement” to its identified robots to prevent potential operational disruptions and serve the public interest.
The FCC tightened its robotics restrictions amid growing concern over China’s ability to surveil customers and obtain sensitive data around the world from devices assembled in the country.
Robotics experts had identified the move as a strategy to nearshore robotics manufacturing. However, the restrictions also may have been imposed prematurely, before a domestic market had the chance to grow and develop.
“Replacing AGVs would require Intel to commission, evaluate, purchase, and integrate replacement equipment, a process that Intel anticipates will take years,” the chipmaker said in its petition, citing a lack of “proven domestic alternatives that meet [its] operational requirements.”
