The Department of War added electric car company BYD to its list of “Chinese military companies,” meaning the Shenzhen-based manufacturer will lose out on future Pentagon contracts.The list, updated on Monday, now includes e-commerce giant Alibaba and search engine Baidu, China’s Google equivalent. The inclusion of BYD comes as the automaker looks to capitalize on positive consumer sentiment and break into the North American market. The Pentagon said that BYD is “directly and indirectly affiliated” with China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and is “indirectly affiliated” with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The Pentagon’s published list further describes BYD as a “military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base because it is affiliated with MIIT and because it resides in or is affiliated with a military-civil fusion enterprise zone.” A Pentagon spokesperson declined to provide further details on those claims.
BYD edged out Tesla to become the dominant global electric vehicle manufacturer in 2025. The company sold 2.26 million vehicles that year, a 28% increase from 2024. Tesla managed 1.64 million sales.
