U.S Adds DJI Into Its Commerce Ban List

The U.S Department of Commerce (USDoC) today has updated its Entity List which contained companies that are prohibited from doing businesses with U.S corporations. The list gained major attention last year when Huawei was added into it and today’s update has expanded the list further with another well-known name.

While today’s announcement mainly revolves around the Chinese chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International of China (SMIC), USDoC has actually added a total of 60 entities from China in into the list [pdf]. Interesting enough, one of them is DJI which is one of the most well-known drones and gimbal maker in the world.

According to the draft document, USDoC stated that DJI alongside three other entities have been enabling human rights abuses within China by participating in “abusive genetic collection” and “high-technology surveillance”. The agency also accused them of exporting items to repressive regimes across the globe.

Some may be wondering if the current Entity List will still hold its ground when President-elect Joe Biden begins his term next month but that is something we will only know once the time comes. Meanwhile, DJI has not yet responded to the announcement but based on previous experience with Huawei, expect to hear more from the drone company very soon.