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FCC blocks two gadgets over Huawei-linked camera chips, Verge reports
The Verge said the FCC used Oct. 13, 2026, component rules to block two unnamed gadgets with a HiVision camera SoC it calls Huawei-linked. An FCC release names HiSilicon and two device types.
- New headline Was: “The FCC is beginning to block gadgets with ‘foreign surveillance chips’”
- Our desk filed its story
Primary source: FCC news release, Oct. 22, 2026
The Verge reported on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, that the Federal Communications Commission blocked two gadgets from the U.S. market in the first use of rules that let it deny equipment authorization when a device contains a chip from a company on the agency’s Covered List1.
Those rules took effect Oct. 13, 2026, The Verge said, after the FCC moved to close a gap in which finished products from Covered List firms were already barred but parts from those firms could still sit inside other companies’ gadgets1. An FCC news release the same day said the same Oct. 13 component-part rules were the basis for the action.
The Verge said the FCC did not name the two blocked products and did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment1. It said the agency did name the part: a HiVision Hi3516CV610 UHD Smart Vision system-on-chip, used to process camera sensors in products such as home security cameras and dashcams1.
The Verge said the FCC is calling the part a foreign surveillance chip because HiVision markets it as designed for the surveillance market with built-in algorithms for detecting human faces, and because it treats HiVision as a Huawei subsidiary1. Huawei is on the FCC Covered List, The Verge reported1.
The FCC release uses the name HiSilicon, which it described as a Huawei subsidiary, and said HiSilicon advertises its chip as designed for the surveillance market with built-in detection algorithms for human faces. Chair Brendan Carr said video devices containing surveillance chips from Covered List entities pose an unacceptable national-security risk.
The Verge placed the action alongside earlier FCC steps on radio modules, routers, and other consumer devices, and said the agency had not answered its questions about how the chip rules will be applied1. Product brands, model numbers, whether makers can swap chips and reapply, and how many other filings are under review were not in The Verge account or the FCC release1.
