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Strider: U.S. Power Grid Exposed to Unprecedented Risk from PRC-Made Equipment

Author: STRIDER

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New Strider report identified widespread dependence on inverter equipment supplied by high-risk PRC manufacturers such as Sungrow and Huawei

Salt Lake City, UT (December 10, 2025)  – Strider Technologies, Inc. (“Strider”), the leading provider of strategic intelligence, today released a new report detailing the United States’ growing dependence on inverter-based resources (IBRs), including solar inverters and battery energy storage systems (BESS), manufactured by companies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). These networked, software-driven devices are capable of remote communication and control which, when combined with their PRC origin, expose U.S. critical infrastructure to unprecedented risk.

Strider’s analysis found that nearly half of all inverters and BESS imported into the United States between 2015 and 2024 came from a high-risk PRC manufacturer. Additionally, 86% of U.S. utilities surveyed for this report (representing about 12% of installed U.S. capacity) rely on at least one risky PRC supplier in their power composition. Three of the high-risk PRC suppliers found were:

  • Huawei: The company has a documented history of IP theft accusations, export control violations, and close alignment with the PRC military, intelligence and law enforcement entities. Huawei was added to the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List and banned from U.S. 5G networks due to espionage risks, but there is no federal rule banning Huawei solar inverters.
  • Sungrow: The company’s CEO and Chairman is a member of the National People’s Congress (the legislative body of the PRC state) and nearly 30% of Sungrow’s senior management are Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members.
  • Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL): In 2025, the U.S. Department of War labeled CATL a “Chinese military company,” flagging national-security and sanctions exposure.

Under the PRC’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, any domestic company can be compelled to support state intelligence activities. As a result, PRC-made IBRs inherently carry elevated security risks, regardless of direct ties to high-risk entities.

“The PRC is systematically targeting America’s critical infrastructure as part of a long-term strategy to gain leverage in a crisis. These are coordinated campaigns to pre-position access across the systems that keep our country running,” said Greg Levesque, CEO and Co-Founder of Strider. “Our latest research shows how embedded PRC-made inverter technology is across the U.S. grid. These are not just passive hardware components—they’re intelligent, networked systems that can be accessed and manipulated remotely. Expanding renewable energy is essential to national resilience; therefore, we must ensure these assets are secure and enhance our collective national security.”

The report—In Broad Daylight: U.S. Grid Exposed to Risk from PRC-Manufactured Inverter Equipment—also documents ongoing PRC research into methods that could enable disruption of the U.S. power grid. Strider identified 2,723 PRC research publications (from 2010 to present) focused on U.S. grid vulnerabilities, including research conducted by PRC entities tied to the country’s military and security services. Key findings include:

  • At least 225 publications related to potential attacks against the U.S. grid—including multiple publications that ran attack simulations on the western U.S. power grid to test new concepts, methods, and tools.
  • 1,083 publications were originally published in Chinese, many of which have never been translated into English.
  • PRC organizations directly administered by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), are actively researching U.S. grid system vulnerabilities. NUDT is included on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List.

The full report can be found here. For more information on Strider’s strategic intelligence platform, click here.

About Strider

Strider is the leading strategic intelligence company empowering organizations to secure and advance their technology and innovation. Leveraging cutting-edge AI technology alongside proprietary methodologies, Strider transforms publicly available data into critical insights. This increased intelligence enables organizations to proactively address and respond to risks associated with state-sponsored intellectual property theft, targeted talent acquisition, and third-party partners. Strider has operations in 16 countries around the globe with offices in Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, London, Tokyo; and Sydney.