Archer vs. Joby Aviation: Flying Taxi Rivals Clash in Court Over China Ties and Stock Impact

TLDR

• Archer Aviation filed a countersuit against Joby Aviation, accusing it of hiding deep ties to Chinese suppliers and government grants
• Archer alleges Joby misclassified thousands of pounds of aircraft parts from China as socks, napkins, and hair clips to dodge tariffs
• Joby called the claims “nonsensical” and said Archer’s legal troubles forced the move
• The countersuit was filed the same day the FAA named both companies as participants in new eVTOL pilot programs
• Both stocks saw gains on Monday — Archer up over 4% and Joby up over 5%

Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation are two of the biggest names in the electric air taxi race. On Monday, their rivalry turned into an all-out legal war.

Archer filed a countersuit against Joby in a California federal court, accusing its competitor of fraud, hiding ties to China, and gaining an unfair edge in a market that could be worth $1 trillion by 2040.

The suit claims Joby has run a manufacturing subsidiary in Shenzhen, China for more than a decade. That operation allegedly received technology grants directly from the Chinese government.

Archer Aviation Inc., ACHR

Archer also says Joby shipped aircraft parts from China to the U.S. by mislabeling them as consumer goods — thousands of pounds described as socks, napkins, and hair clips. The goal, Archer claims, was to avoid tariffs and oversight.

Joby pushed back hard. Its attorney Alex Spiro called the claims invented and said the company “doesn’t respond to nonsense.”

The Legal Back-and-Forth

This countersuit is Archer’s response to a lawsuit Joby filed in November 2025. Joby accused Archer of corporate espionage — claiming Archer hired a former Joby employee who took confidential files about business strategies, partnerships, and aircraft specs.

Archer denied all of those claims and filed a motion to dismiss Joby’s suit.

Archer is now asking the court for damages and wants Joby removed from federal programs. It argues Joby misrepresented itself as an “American-made” company while hiding foreign dependencies.

The suit also claims Joby scrubbed its website to remove evidence of its Chinese subsidiary and hid its ties to a battery supplier allegedly connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

Federal Programs and Stock Movement

The timing of the suit matters. It was filed the same day the U.S. Department of Transportation announced eight new grant programs to push forward air taxi and drone development. Both Archer and Joby were named as participants in three of those eight programs.

The FAA also confirmed both companies would take part in new eVTOL pilot projects, including passenger flights in Manhattan, regional flights in Texas, and cargo delivery in Florida.

Archer wants Joby disqualified from all of it.

Both companies went public in 2021 through SPAC deals. Joby has contracts with the U.S. Air Force. In February 2026, Joby announced plans to launch commercial flights in Dubai, letting passengers book through the Uber app.

Archer is partnered with a real-estate developer for a South Florida air taxi network and is set to be the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

On Monday, Archer shares rose more than 4% and Joby shares climbed more than 5%.

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