Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission banned new routers made outside the United States, including those from TP-Link, one of the most popular and makers of some of the best Wi-Fi routers currently available.
In response, the company is looking to produce routers in the US. TP-Link announced Monday (Oct. 19) that it had signed a letter of intent with the Spokane-based Key Tronic. Pending legislative approval, TP-Link says that the partnership could see new routers produced at a factory in Mississippi as soon as next year.
You could see TP-Link's Wi-Fi 8 routers sooner than expected.
“This LOI with Key Tronic demonstrates our firm commitment to expanding domestic advanced manufacturing, and establishing America as our base for delivering secure, reliable connectivity solutions to households and businesses around the world,” said Jeffrey Chao, Chief Executive Officer of TP-Link Systems Inc., in a press release.
Unfortunately, that may not guarantee that TP-Link can sell its American-made routers in the United States.
How we got here
TP-Link and foreign-made routers have been facing a potential ban since at least December 2024, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the ban was coming in the next calendar year.
Like the protracted and resolved TikTok ban, the concern from US officials was about links between the Shenzhen-based TP-Link and the Chinese government. At the time, unnamed officials claimed that Chinese laws could require TP-Link to comply with Chinese intelligence agency requests, which would potentially use TP-Link routers to push malicious software updates to US-based devices.
The FCC's ban became official on March 23 of this year. Routers that were approved before March 23 could still be sold by retailers who had stock. Software updates were approved through 2027, but anything after that would have to be approved or exempted.
"TP-Link supports efforts to strengthen security standards and is actively pursuing Conditional Approval for new products and advancing plans for U.S.-based manufacturing," TP-Link said in a message to customers.
Components and a vague restrictions
While the routers could be produced in the United States, that doesn't mean all or even some of the components will be sourced in country.
"Many [components] are just not available from a domestic source, and this is not a TP-Link issue," Steve Kovsky, TP-Link's corporate affairs officer, told PC Mag.
Kovsky also said that the FCC's guidelines aren't totally clear. The FCC and the current administration treat production as "any major stage of the process through which the device is made, including manufacturing, assembly, design, and development.” How much that actually means for TP-Link is unclear: is it 25% or 15% of production in the US?
In the meantime, the company has applied for temporary exemptions from the FCC that have already been given to many rival router makers, including Netgear, Asus, and Amazon. TP-Link has not received this waiver.
What's next?
For now, as mentioned above, if a retailer has TP-Link routers in stock you can still purchase them and they will be software supported for at least the next year.
If the partnership is approved and TP-Link is able to quickly ramp up manufacturing, we could see the company's first Wi-Fi 8 routers hit store shelves fairly soon. The question is if reshoring production to the US will raise prices.
Right now, the latest TP-Link Archer router is up for pre-order in Canada with a giant $999 CAD price tag (about $705 USD). Products made in the US tend to carry a premium price, and as Steve Kovsky told PC Mag, " It can mean higher quality, but it can also mean higher price points.”
As with every other piece of tech that's become astronomically more expensive in the last two years, don't expect a router that will be nice to your wallet.