A TCL booth is seen at the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2026, Jan. 7. Yonhap
Chinese technology companies are facing expanded statewide bans in Texas over concerns that their products could be used to collect personal data and pose security risks.
Texas has strengthened restrictions on the use of technologies linked to Chinese firms, citing risks related to personal data harvesting and potential national security threats.
The move comes as a joint venture between China’s TCL and Japan’s Sony is set to launch in April next year, heightening industry concerns that regulatory scrutiny of Chinese-linked technology and supply chains may intensify.
According to the official Texas state website, Gov. Greg Abbott said technologies affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government are now fully prohibited from use by state employees and on government-issued devices.
“Hostile adversaries harvest user data through artificial intelligence, hardware and applications to exploit and manipulate users,” Abbott said, adding that Texas would not allow such technologies to threaten residents’ privacy or undermine state security.
The updated list of prohibited technologies spans artificial intelligence, consumer electronics and digital platforms, and includes TCL, Hisense, Alibaba, Baidu, Xiaomi, TP-Link, CATL, SenseTime, Megvii, iFlytek, Uniview, Shein and Temu.
Texas authorities said the listed technologies could collect sensitive user information — including location data, audio and video recordings and biometric identifiers — in a nontransparent manner, with the potential for such data to be transferred overseas.
Concerns over data collection by Chinese technology companies have surfaced repeatedly in the United States, Korea and the European Union, prompting tighter regulatory oversight in multiple jurisdictions.
With TCL explicitly named on the prohibited list, market caution has grown around the recently announced TCL–Sony joint venture. While the joint venture itself is not directly subject to the Texas ban, analysts say supply chains and data-handling practices involving Chinese partners are increasingly likely to face closer regulatory scrutiny.
The move aligns with the broader U.S. federal government’s tightening stance on China-related technology risks, with experts warning that data security concerns are beginning to reshape global partnerships and supply-chain strategies.
“Even if a joint venture is not classified as a Chinese entity, supply chains and technology architectures involving Chinese partners may increasingly be subject to additional verification and oversight,” an industry official said.
