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China sanctions US drone maker Skydio
- aenopix 2y agoSanction 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 2y agoFirst 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 2y 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.
- zarzavat 2y agoIndeed, and I'm not sure that China will arrest you when you're travelling in a foreign country, for trading with Taiwan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_case_of_Meng_Wanzhou https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_case_of_Meng_Wanzh...
- preisschild 2y agoYeah of course, because China is sanctioning them because they are making it harder for the PROC to invade and annex another free country.
- lupire 2y agoThe 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.
- preisschild 2y ago[flagged]
- flykespice 2y ago> Not a single one in the last 100 years Here is a ChatGPT response to you because I wont bother with kneejerk responses: In the last 100 years, the United States has been involved in several military invasions and interventions in various countries. Some notable examples include: Mexico (1914) - U.S. forces occupied Veracruz. Haiti (1915-1934) - U.S. Marines occupied Haiti to stabilize the country. Dominican Republic (1916-1924) - U.S. intervention to restore order and protect American interests. Korea (1950-1953) - U.S. involvement in the Korean War, supporting South Korea against North Korea. Vietnam (1955-1975) - Extensive military involvement in the Vietnam War. Grenada (1983) - U.S. invasion to overthrow the government and restore order. Panama (1989) - Operation Just Cause to depose Manuel Noriega. Iraq (2003) - Invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, followed by a prolonged military presence. Afghanistan (2001-2021) - Response to the 9/11 attacks, targeting the Taliban and al-Qaeda. This list highlights significant military actions but is not exhaustive, as the U.S. has also conducted numerous smaller operations, interventions, and covert actions in various countries over the years.
- preisschild 2y agoChatGPT can't even subtract 100? The first 3 examples are over 100 years and most of those were just helping allies. Note that I also said "annex".
- srbloom 2y agoWould you have argued that the American civil war was recent in 1940?
- jayyhu 2y agoSanction 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.
- dtquad 2y agoThe "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-drones-act/ https://dronelife.com/2024/09/10/house-passes-countering-ccp...
- themaninthedark 2y agoThe bigger question is what will the US do if China decides to take the same action wrt EV batteries?
- nine_k 2y agoOn one hand, e.g. Tesla make their batteries on the US soil, in Nevada. OTOH they don't make the batteries from the US soil, with more than half of the lithium coming from China. I'd expect a Tesla Gigamine then, somewhere near the recently discovered giant lithium deposit in Arkansas. Drones could use some of that, too.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Sabinus 2y agoAhhh, so that's why all the crazies have been talking about lithium. They've been activated by the agitprop.
- kortilla 2y ago
- TheChaplain 2y agoFirst 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.
- dtquad 2y agoDJI 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 2y agoI'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
- aurareturn 2y agoI 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 2y agoI agree. Feels like panic that China violated the Rules-Based International Order™
- orange_joe 2y agoI 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.
- aurareturn 2y agoFunny 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.
- lazyeye 2y agoIs this actually true? From what Ive seen and read, the US is constantly demonized in the Chinese media.
- yieldcrv 2y agoNobody relies on that in China
- aurareturn 2y agoThe fact that people actually ask this question, shows how people in the west (assuming you are from there) only see China through mainstream media. No offense to you in particular. In China, if you walk around the street in any city, you can see many American brands such as McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, Microsoft, Apple. American logos are proudly displayed. If you walk into a cafe, you will more often than not, hear American music. Chinese cinemas will show Hollywood movies. They have statues of Kobe Bryant and when the NBA plays there, they get hundreds of thousands of fans. This is all in 2024, by the way. Meanwhile, in America, everything Chinese will inevitably get the "China bad" treatment. Chinese companies doing business in America have to hide the fact that they're Chinese. Google "Is company..." and often the top autocomplete results includes something like "Is x company Chinese?". The level of propaganda is not nearly the same on both sides. Go to China and see for yourself. I just came back from Shenzhen. Absolutely stunning modern city that feels like it's 5 years ahead of anywhere I've been to. It's extremely safe for foreigners. Ridiculously safe actually. By my estimation, 80% of the cars on the road are EVs. Super clean air, cleaner than most American cities nowadays. You never hear about this stuff in western mainstream media.
- thevillagechief 2y agoThis is great. Now everyone will get serious decoupling battery supply chain from China. Maybe companies making EVs will understand the stake.
- dtquad 2y agoBut how are they going to compete with the huge state-supported battery makers from China?
- mitthrowaway2 2y agoBy state-supporting our own battery makers? Or does the Chinese government have more money than we do?
- dtquad 2y agoThe 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-drones-act/ https://dronelife.com/2024/09/10/house-passes-countering-ccp...
- jayyhu 2y agoWhile 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 2y agoIf no other batteries are as cheap as the ones from China then these sanctions could push up the price of the competitor's drones.
- coliveira 2y agoIt 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 2y agoWe 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
- coliveira 2y agoTariffs 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 2y 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 2y agoCan'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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cb-Zv783yQ
- wumeow 2y agoThese threads are always depressing. Half the commenters here would cheer the collapse of the US.
- jacknews 2y agoFrom 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 2y 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.