Corruptible Connections: CCP Ties and Smart Device Dangers

Matthew Gabriel Cazel Brazil

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Smart home device manufacturers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) benefit from efforts by Beijing to export data infrastructure and governance standards along with “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices.

Manufacturers like Xiaomi, TCL, and Skyworth maintain strong links with the PRC government via internal Party-aligned structures, leadership by Party members, and participation in bidding for contracts from state-owned enterprises and military procurement.

PRC companies have shipped products overseas that have been assessed as having serious cybersecurity risks: a U.S. government agency found TCL smart TVs allowed unauthorized access to the devices’ data and media files, while users discovered Skyworth Group smart TVs were sending back data about other devices in users’ homes back to a Beijing-based company’s servers.

On September 8, the 2025 World Smart Industry Expo concluded in Chongqing. A sprawling event hosting over 600 companies from around the world, the venue comprised 130,000 square meters of indoor exhibition space, in addition to a large outdoor area for live demonstrations of drone hardware and other tech. It was a chance for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to flex its growing technological and industrial muscles to a global audience (World Internet Congress, September 9).

Coverage of the expo in state media noted that “smart home” (智能居家) technologies were one of five main dedicated sections, along with autonomous networked electric vehicles (智能网联新能源汽车), digitized urban management systems (数字城市), low-altitude autonomous commercial drones (低空经济), and autonomous robots (智能机器) (Xinhua, September 9).

“Smart home” technologies, which include networked consumer-grade appliances under the umbrella of the “Internet of Things” (IoT), are rapidly becoming available in homes across the world. Beijing has spent years ensuring that these products are designed and manufactured in the PRC and then exported alongside data infrastructure and governance standards. Centrally directed efforts since 2009 to control end-product manufacturing, component supply chains, and technical standards point to ambitions to make dominance of the global IoT industry a national priority (China Brief, July 25, August 7).