DJI- Striving for Innovation Amid Contestation

DJI was founded in a college dorm room in Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. By 2020, DJI, a company manufacturing drones, occupied a 77% share of consumer drone sales in the United States with a wide array of clients including law enforcement and government agencies. Its drones were used in everything from filming Hollywood movies in California to growing crops in Iowa. DJI’s success in the United States, however, brought scrutiny. In Washington, an array of concerns existed regarding technologies sourced from China as inter-state rivalry grew increasingly acute. How should DJI, facing ever-increasing scrutiny, seek to defend itself against Washington? How should it prepare itself for and react to a potential ban on its products in the United States? Should it follow in the footsteps of companies such as Huawei and largely retrench from the American market?