China sanctions US drone maker Skydio

https://www.skydio.com/blog/chinas-sanctions-on-skydio

by jayyhu • 2 years ago

85 93 2 years ago

aenopix• 2 years ago

Sanction for sanction, simple as that. Western countries like to sanction the shit out of China, but they don't like it when then they do it?

ApolloFortyNine• 2 years ago

First sentence of article.

A few weeks ago, China announced sanctions on Skydio for selling drones to Taiwan, where our only customer today is the National Fire Agency.

flykespice• 2 years ago

...Yeah? That is pretty much in line with how sanction works in the West.

US has sanctioned for decades companies that cooperate economically with "enemy states" (Iran/Cuba/Russia/China), I don't see how China would be different.

preisschild• 2 years ago

Yeah of course, because China is sanctioning them because they are making it harder for the PROC to invade and annex another free country.

lupire• 2 years ago

The USA invaded and annexed lots of free countries.

Invading and annexing isn't some weird thing no one usually does.

Taiwan is the product of a recent civil war.

jayyhu3• 2 years ago

Sanction aside, this action is a wake-up call for all US based companies operating in geopolitically sensitive industries that they absolutely need to diversify their supply chain away from China.

And in terms of the sanction itself, it’s definitely a reasonable response by China, given the fact that DJI is heavily sanctioned by the US government.

dtquad4• 2 years ago

The "sanctions" on DJI are limited to US federal agencies being banned from buying DJI drones.

China's move however will be a killing blow to Skydio because China has most likely correctly calculated that US/Western anti-mining sentiments makes it impossible to manufacture batteries.

https://dronelife.com/2024/09/10/house-passes-countering-ccp...

kortilla3• 2 years ago

DJI has extremely light sanctions. I can still buy them in the stores in the US. If they were heavily sanctioned by the government, this would not be possible.

TheChaplain• 2 years ago

First I was surprised because I was under the impression that Skydio was nowhere near DJI in terms of functionality and quality, but then I see it's about Taiwan..

I feel like China is watching intently the ru-ua situation, and depending how it pans out with international support, Taiwan may find itself in hot water.

dtquad4• 2 years ago

DJI has had two insight that their Western competitors lacked:

- The market wants cheap and durable high-quality cameras that can fly. Drone/flying-centric features are secondary.

- Software and "AI" features are important but they don't have moat and can be easily copied.

Skydio had more reliable person-tracking feature earlier than DJI but their camera quality has almost always been inferior to DJI.

wormlord• 2 years ago

I've always felt like China doing a "hot war" in Taiwan would be really uncharacteristic of them. What I think is more likely is that they sponsor parties/social movements in Taiwan that support reunification. Eventually I'd imagine Taiwan would do a referendum on whether or not to join the PRC.

The way I would frame it if I were China: 1. Re-join PRC and lose some civil liberties, but hopefully not have any worse material quality of life. 2. Stay in the US sphere of influence, and continue to be the hypothetical "first theater" of WWIII. Taiwan would need to increase military readiness and always live with the threat of invasion looming.

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” -- Sun Tzu

aurareturn10• 2 years ago

I find the author's letter a bit tone deaf. It acknowledges that China is sanctioning Skydio for military reasons, but ignores that the US is doing the same.

missedthecue• 2 years ago

I agree. Feels like panic that China violated the Rules-Based International Order™

orange_joe• 2 years ago

I don’t really think a sanctioned entity is under obligation to argue “both sides”. I doubt Chinese companies under similar conditions will do so, or have done so in the past.

aurareturn10• 2 years ago

Funny thing is, when I talk to Chinese people in China, nearly all of them understand why the US and China are fighting: economic reasons. There isn't the same level of hate/demonization of the US in China as there is the opposite in US.

People in China seem to be able to separate the emotions from the situation and able to understand the circumstance logically. Meanwhile, in the US, it's become more of a hate thing through nonstop anti-China propaganda.

modernpink• 2 years ago

If there was ever any doubt, this action makes clear that the Chinese government will use supply chains as a weapon to advance their interests over ours.

In particular this sentence demonstrates a näive credulousness.

Kissinger would be laughing.

jayyhu3• 2 years ago

From the article's opening sentence, it's clear that they are being sanctioned for doing business with Taiwan's Fire Agency, and not for any military reasons.

  A few weeks ago, China announced sanctions on Skydio for selling drones to Taiwan, where our only customer today is the National Fire Agency.

simonsarris• 2 years ago

You mean with DJI? It's not remotely symmetrical. The US does not prohibit DJI from buying US parts to use in their drones. The US do not prohibit US citizens from buying DJI drones. Only the US Dept of Defense is prohibited from buying DJI equipment.

The US does this because DJI is considered a Chinese Military Company [1] (nb that DJI disputes this and asked to be removed from the list). China is sanctioning Skydio because they sold some drones to Taiwan.

[1] https://media.defense.gov/2024/Jan/31/2003384819/-1/-1/0/126...

aurareturn10• 2 years ago

I mean in general, starting with Huawei.

threatofrain• 2 years ago

Arguably sanctions poker should be played asymmetrically until one side folds due to uneven damage. If both sides play for even damage then neither side should sanction.

mightyham3• 2 years ago

Last month the U.S. House of Representatives voted to "bar new drones from Chinese drone manufacturer DJI from operating in the United States"[1], and even more recently there has been reports that customs is, using some arguably phony justifications, holding up imports of DJI drones[2].

While you are right that the US has not fully passed and officially enforced a country-wide DJI ban, saying that the US is "just" banning DJI usage by the dept of defense, ignores a number of developments suggesting that the US is in the process of a more expansive ban.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-votes-bar-new-dron... [2] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-customs-halting-some-dro...

thevillagechief• 2 years ago

This is great. Now everyone will get serious decoupling battery supply chain from China. Maybe companies making EVs will understand the stake.

dtquad4• 2 years ago

But how are they going to compete with the huge state-supported battery makers from China?

mitthrowaway22• 2 years ago

By state-supporting our own battery makers? Or does the Chinese government have more money than we do?

manfre• 2 years ago

If batteries can't be sourced from China, there is no competition. If they can be, tariffs to balance out the subsidies.

dtquad4• 2 years ago

The US "sanctions on Chinese" are limited to US federal agencies not being allowed to use Chinese drones.

China now confidently banning Skydio entirely and also blocking them from getting batteries probably means that China has concluded that it is impossible for the US to make batteries on their own. People will bring up the recent lithium discoveries in the US but has completely forgotten the amount propaganda that has been pushed against "open pit mining" targeting both the left and the right (Joe Rogan, RFK jr.)

https://dronelife.com/2024/09/10/house-passes-countering-ccp...

jayyhu3• 2 years ago

While it might be hard for the US to make lithium batteries that are competitive economically, there are still many countries in the world that can make them economically that are not China, eg. SK, Japan, Taiwan, and the rest of SEA. For Skydio, surviving these sanctions is just a matter of moving their supply chain away from China.

tartoran• 2 years ago

If no other batteries are as cheap as the ones from China then these sanctions could push up the price of the competitor's drones.

coliveira7• 2 years ago

It is not impossible for the US to develop batteries. The problem is that it will be costly in terms of investment and the resulting product will necessarily be more expensive for consumers. While this happens Chinese companies will dominate their internal market, Asian markets, Africa and South America. The US is trying to start a fight where their consumers will be left with high inflation and a protectionist market with low innovation.

option• 2 years ago

We urgently need more tariffs on goods made in China. The most important feature of tariffs is not the revenue but incentives they create. We need near total “friendshoring” by 2027

coliveira7• 2 years ago

Tariffs are useless if you don't have investments to replace that product with local alternatives. Tariffs by themselves will not make the replacements appear (and here is the important part) with the same quality of the taxed product. Most countries that apply tariffs end up with inferior products and a monopolized internal market.

riknos314• 2 years ago

In order to continue delivering X10s and supporting our customers, we have to take the drastic step of rationing batteries to one per drone. ... We are extending the software license, warranty, and support term for all drones fulfilled with less than a full complement of batteries by the length of time it takes us to deliver all batteries in the kit.

Proactively offering their customers support due to the inconvenience, solid customer service move there.

ChiefNotAClue• 2 years ago

Can't say that I feel bad for them. Skydio builds inferior drones and sells them at exorbitant prices. Instead of innovating, they opt to lobby and ban the competition (DJI and Autel).

This is not atypical–however, the more you dig into the topic, the more shady they get. Worthwhile watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cb-Zv783yQ

wumeow• 2 years ago

These threads are always depressing. Half the commenters here would cheer the collapse of the US.

jacknews• 2 years ago

From a national security perspective, and with the recent Israeli exploding pager development, I think a move away from Chinese batteries, forced or not, is a good thing.

morninglight• 2 years ago

Chinese companies who are now rapidly losing market share to Skydio and our Western peers

Please, show us the detailed metrics on this claim.

China sanctions US drone maker Skydio

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