U.S. Court Enjoins Xiaomi CCMC Designation

Xiaomi Corporation, a Chinese-headquartered, Cayman-incorporated consumer electronics company, recently succeeded in obtaining from a federal court in Washington, D.C. a preliminary injunction enjoining the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”) from enforcing a designation that Xiaomi was a Communist Chinese Military Company (“CCMC”).

The court highlighted in its reasoning how little substantive evidence the DoD had presented that Xiaomi was linked to the Chinese military and defense establishment. This is potentially a significant blow to the new sanctions targeting CCMCs and could provide impetus for other designated CCMCs to consider potential avenues for relief.