The Pentagon has decided to remove Hesai from its blacklist of Chinese military-affiliated companies after judging that the world’s biggest maker of laser sensors for electric vehicles did not meet the legal criteria for inclusion, according to several people familiar with the move.
Hesai’s removal from the Pentagon’s “Chinese military companies” blacklist is in an embarrassing reversal for the defence department, which added it to the list in January.
Congress passed legislation in 2021 requiring the Pentagon to compile the list. It was designed to increase scrutiny of Chinese groups operating in the US that are allegedly helping China modernise the People’s Liberation Army through what is known as the “military-civil fusion” programme.