China's Skydio Curbs Sound The Alarm For US Battery Supply Chain

Latest stories

Capital equipment not enough to revive US chip-making

Trump 2.0 would be no easy ride for Vladimir Putin

Now is the moment for a Middle East ceasefire

Skydio, which has sent more than 1,000 drones to Ukraine for intelligence gathering and reconnaissance purposes, is seeking alternative suppliers in Asia. It has been in touch with Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-him about the issue.

China's moves to curb Skydio's battery supply coincided with North Korea's plan to deploy troops to support the Russian army in Ukraine. US State Secretary Antony Blinken said Thursday that about 8,000 North Korean soldiers are stationed on the Russian border and are preparing to join combat in Ukraine“in the coming days.”

Chinese pundits' reaction

Although Beijing's curbs have not yet been able to disrupt Skydio's drone production, many Chinese commentators are now celebrating.

“China's sanctions against certain US companies and individuals have initially shown their effects,” A Henan-based columnist using the pseudonym“Spirit No.1” says in an article published on Friday.“The curbs are having a real impact on American firms, as Skydio now has a limited battery supply and needs to seek alternative suppliers.”

The commentator adds,“It is difficult for the US government to help companies overcome the challenge in the short term given the complexity and time required to reconstruct the supply chain.”

He says, with its complete supply chain in the drone sector, China is able to limit the production and supply of the US military drone makers that rely on the Chinese manufacturing sector.

He says that the incident is only reflecting the intensifying technology war between China and the US. He says the US should think twice whether it wants any escalations as it will hurt itself one day.

According to an article by a Hainan-based writer using the pseudonym“No.14 Observation Room,”“China has previously launched several rounds of countermeasures against US firms but people do not know whether these measures really work. Now people are satisfied after seeing Skydio's failure in getting Poweramp's batteries.”

He adds that“the US has made up excuses when sanctioning Chinese firms and individuals, and it thinks China can't do anything to its arms sales to Taiwan. Now China's counterattack is completely beyond the United States' expectation. Skydio does not have an alternative supplier.”

That writer says the current Chinese sanctions, which target US defense contractors and drone makers, have displayed only a small part of Beijing's retaliation capabilities. He says the US defense contractors' suppliers in China can be targeted.

John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and Chinese Communist Party, said the administration and Congress need to work together with industry to set guardrails that protect US companies from CCP economic coercion.

He said China's control of supply chains for drones, pharmaceuticals and other sectors was a“loaded gun” aimed at the US economy. He said Beijing is weaponizing these supply chain dependencies against US people.

China Plus One strategy

While Skydio is working on sourcing batteries elsewhere, TDK is also implementing its China Plus One strategy by adding new production facilities in India.