China imposed sanctions SkydioAmerica’s largest drone maker for supplying drones to Taiwan’s national fire service. Skydio CEO Adam Bry publicly acknowledged the sanctions on Wednesday. “A few weeks ago, China announced sanctions against Skydio for selling drones to Taiwan. blog post.
As first reported Financial Timesthe ban sent Skydio scrambling to find alternative battery suppliers. Although the company manufactures its drones in the United States and sources many of the components inside them from outside China, Skydio was completely dependent on a single Chinese supplier for batteries before October 11, when the country’s government imposed an embargo.
According to Bry, the company has a “substantial supply” of power cells on hand, but those supplies won’t be enough to prevent a near-term norm, and the alternative suppliers Skydio is trying to attract “won’t be online by the time it goes online” next spring. Further deliveries of the company’s flagship later X10 drone (pictured above) will only come with one battery for now.
Among customers, Skydio was contracted to provide X10 drones to the Ukrainian military, which plans to use UAVs for reconnaissance missions. According to information, before the sanctions, Ukraine requested thousands of X10 units Financial Times.
Skydio’s relationship with Taiwan can only be a pretext for sanctions. “We suspect that Skydio is being targeted by Beijing because it is likely seen as a competitor to DJI,” the US official said. Financial Times. “If there’s a silver lining, it’s that we can use this episode to accelerate our work to move drone supply chains away from China.”
It should be noted that DJI has long been in the spotlight of the US government. In mid-October, the Chinese drone manufacturer sued Against the Department of Defense over the Pentagon’s decision to designate it as a “Chinese military company.” At the beginning of the year DJI narrowly avoided the national ban When the US Senate released its version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2025.
