The FCC banned imports of humanoid and quadruped robots in July 2026 over national security concerns. The main obstacle is the lack of a domestic supply chain capable of producing critical components, particularly actuators which can represent up to 60% of a robot’s total manufacturing cost. China controls approximately 90% of global rare-earth magnet processing, and building a humanoid without Chinese components could triple production costs, rising from $46,000 to $131,000 for models like Tesla’s Optimus. Chinese firms dominate the market with 80-97% of global humanoid shipments, and the Pentagon is now investing in domestic manufacturing capacity to reduce this dependence.
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