TP-Link is estimated to have 50% to 65% of the consumer router market in the U.S.
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“Chinese state-sponsored hackers exploited TP-Link routers sitting in American living rooms. Many of those models cannot even update themselves automatically, and TP-Link has stopped supporting them,” the Florida AG said on the social media platform. “They also told Floridians they have split from China and that they build U.S. products in Vietnam, but that is fiction. Research and manufacturing remain rooted in China, less than 1% of the parts in that Vietnam plant actually come from Vietnam. TP-Link now claims to have separated from a company with Chinese ties — a company the Pentagon has designated as an arm of the Chinese military.”
The federal government first investigated the company back in 2024, with the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, and Department of Justice opening inquiries into the company, with the DOJ looking at whether the company has engaged in unfair trade practices and poses a threat to national security . The company has tried to fight these allegations , especially as it points out that TP-Link in the U.S. has already separated from its Chinese parent company in 2024, and that it has been making its routers in Vietnam since 2018.
Unlike Huawei, TP-Link has been able to avoid a full ban in the United States. However, it’s currently facing a major challenge as the FCC has banned the import of new consumer routers . This ban would affect all router manufacturers, including American brands such as Cisco and Netgear, but they were able to go around this by applying for a conditional approval. TP-Link itself applied for this exemption , too, but it’s unclear if it has received one so far. But even if TP-Link hasn’t secured a conditional approval yet, it could continue selling its already existing router models in the U.S.
Florida isn’t the only state to file a case against TP-Link because of its alleged connections to Beijing and the safety of its routers. Iowa, Nebraska, and Montana have also sued the company for exactly the same reasons, and their attorneys general say that they’re doing it to protect their citizens from the Chinese Communist Party.
TP-Link opens global preorders for its first Wi-Fi 8 router, but ban keeps it out of US market
Asus routers gain FCC's 'Conditional Approval' for sale in the US as TP-Link remains locked out
Security researchers find surveillance implants in Chinese-made routers sold worldwide
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/routers/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/routers/florida-sues-tp-link-for-lying-about-the-safety-of-its-routers-state-claims-that-manufacturer-misrepresented-its-security-and-ties-to-china#main
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