- Attorneys general from 21 states are up-in-arms about TP-Link’s alleged connections with China
- TP-Link says it is an independent U.S. company
- The concerns of the attorneys general is just the latest in the router saga that began on March 23, when the FCC banned the sale of foreign-made Wi-Fi routers
Earlier this week, a group of state attorneys general from Florida, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska sued router manufacturer TP-Link Systems, alleging the company is controlled by China even though its global headquarters is in Irvine, California.
Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier posted a video on X, saying that TP-Link controls a significant percentage of the retail Wi-Fi router market, and that Chinese state-sponsored hackers have exploited TP-Link routers sitting in American living rooms.
Although TP-Link claims that it has no connection with China, Uthmeier called that “fiction.”
While TP-Link claims its research and manufacturing are done it Vietnam, in fact, “less than 1% of the parts in that Vietnam plant actually come from Vietnam,” said Uthmeier. “We will not allow families to be misled into handing their personal data to the Chinese Communist Party.”
The day after the states announced their lawsuit, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said he was leading a multi-state coalition of 21 state attorneys general in raising concerns over TP-Link routers. Hilgers said, “Although TP-Link recently constructed a manufacturing plant in Vietnam, a vast majority of the components used at the plant are imported from or through China, and the plant was constructed by a contractor with ties to the Chinese military. These ongoing relationships create serious security concerns.”
Steve Kovsky, corporate affairs officer for TP-Link, issued a statement, saying, “The coordinated lawsuits are built on false premises. They do nothing to advance national security while unfairly penalizing an industry-leading U.S. company. For months, California-based TP-Link Systems has provided state regulators with clear, verifiable documentation demonstrating two fundamental facts: TP-Link Systems devices sold in the U.S. are manufactured in Vietnam and TP-Link Systems is an independent U.S. company that is not owned or controlled by any foreign government.”
Part of a bigger router saga
The concerns of the attorneys general are just the latest in the router saga that began on March 23, when the FCC effectively banned all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries from sale in the U.S. unless the supplier applies for and receives a “Conditional Approval” from the Department of War (DoW) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FCC said existing Wi-Fi routers and those that were previously approved by the FCC could continue to be operated and sold; but the new mandate would apply to new devices.
At the time, Claus Hetting, CEO and chairman of Wi-Fi Now, said, “To our knowledge, consumer-grade Wi-Fi routers available in the U.S. are manufactured nearly exclusively in China, Taiwan and Vietnam. These include popular home networking products by major Wi-Fi router brands such as Netgear, TP-Link, Google Nest, eero, Ubiquiti and many others. If one is to take the FCC’s blanket ban at face value, it would mean that all of the above will need somehow to move production to the U.S. in order to be able to continue to offer state-of-the-art Wi-Fi routers and mesh.”
And Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner posted on LinkedIn in March, “There is no U.S. router supply chain. The last router built in America predates an entire generation of adults. We offshored this manufacturing decades ago. You cannot ban imports of a product no one makes domestically and expect anything other than a shortage.”
Entner added, “Security concerns about foreign-manufactured hardware are legitimate. But shutting down the entire supply chain when no domestic alternative exists isn't security policy. It's a broadband freeze.”
It didn’t take long for the FCC to soften its stance.
In May, the FCC issued a public notice that routers authorized prior to March 23 can continue to receive software and firmware updates until at least January 1, 2029. These include updates to ensure the continued functionality of the devices, such as those that patch vulnerabilities and facilitate compatibility with different operating systems.
It also didn’t take long for companies to start applying for waivers.
As of October 2, 22 router vendors have received waivers to sell their routers in the U.S. until various dates in 2027 and 2028.
Even the trade groups NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association and ACA Connects requested a waiver to allow their member companies and their suppliers to make hardware changes to foreign-produced broadband routers necessary to address materials shortages. NTCA and ACA’s waiver request was made directly to the FCC, which granted the request on September 29.
However, one company that is not yet on any list of approved waivers is TP-Link.
Read more about the FCC's router policy
Here’s why the Wi-Fi camp is freaking out about the FCC's new router policy