The Federal Communications Commission has added routers assembled outside the U.S. to its Covered List, which bars the certification of fresh models for distribution in the American market.
This step arises from the agency's national security evaluation, which identified vulnerabilities in devices for residential and small-business use that could be exploited by international adversaries. Accordingly, equipment made in other nations will enter the Covered List, blocking prospective approvals for their entry into the U.S. marketplace.
The Covered List enforces strict measures. In the past, Huawei offerings such as the Matebook laptop and Mate 10 phone reached U.S. consumers. Following its launch on March 12, 2021, the list included Huawei, resulting in the disappearance of its items from retail outlets, along with ZTE's networking gear and Kaspersky Lab's antivirus solutions.
The agency has now determined that routers from foreign sources carry excessive risks of compromise, making them unsuitable for U.S. commerce.
Listing on the Covered List doesn't outright forbid U.S. individuals from retaining such routers or stores from offloading existing inventory, distinguishing it from a complete prohibition.
The FCC's announcement specifies that the policy leaves intact the operation of routers bought earlier by users. It also permits ongoing sales, imports, and promotions of prior certified models via the equipment approval system. Per the list's guidelines, the new constraints focus solely on upcoming device types.
Nevertheless, the designation achieves equivalent effects: FCC clearance is required for all radio-emitting gear sold domestically. Withholding approval for routers built abroad ensures they remain unavailable, possibly prompting vendors to end partnerships with those producers.
This outcome is feasible, as seen with Huawei's 2021 listing, where pre-existing certified products continued circulating initially. In October 2025, however, Chair Brendan Carr proposed a vote to create procedures blocking imports, promotions, or sales of approved items later flagged for security issues on the list. The commission followed through, instituting tools to stop such transactions.
Analysts have frequently cautioned that routers represent key weak spots in household networks, mainly because owners neglect regular updates, fostering major flaws or readily resolvable gaps.
The FCC views routers from abroad as inherently too hazardous from a security standpoint.
The agency's security assessment observes that state-supported and independent cybercriminals have lately exploited weaknesses in compact routers for homes and offices made overseas to strike at U.S. residents directly in their dwellings. Ranging from severing online access to facilitating neighborhood surveillance and data pilfering, these imported units deliver intolerable threats to citizens.
The assessment further implicates such routers in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon operations that assaulted essential U.S. networks in communications, power, transit, and utilities. Domestic routers demand verifiable production paths to deny overseas threats ready entry into households, enterprises, vital systems, and response networks.
The FCC indicates the ruling encompasses all routers fabricated in foreign locations, without clarifying if it pertains to overseas firms, American brands with international factories, or those relying on external assemblers. Several U.S.-based producers like Netgear and Linksys operate headquarters domestically yet assemble products abroad. (A 2025 10-K filing reveals Netgear's reliance on various partners, including Taiwan's Foxconn.) In contrast, TP-Link, originating in China, has located its global base in the U.S.
A TP-Link representative noted: 'Almost every router originates from outside the U.S., encompassing output from American firms such as TP-Link, which assembles in Vietnam. The FCC's directive on novel, uncertified devices likely touches the full sector. We stand by our production chain's integrity and endorse this comprehensive scrutiny.'
Broadcom and Netgear offered no swift replies to outreach efforts. PCWorld contacted the FCC outside regular hours for response.
Still, the FCC outlined exceptions labeled as conditional clearances, none pertaining to household routers: These encompass drone navigation tools from SiFly, Mobilicom, ScoutDI's Scout 137 platform, and Verge Aero's X1 setup.
This report incorporates an update at 5:19 p.m. on March 23 with TP-Link's input.
Mark has covered technology for PCWorld over the past decade, backed by 30 years in the field. He has produced more than 3,500 features for the publication on subjects including computer chips, add-ons, and the Windows OS. His reporting has featured in PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science, and Electronic Buyers' News, where he co-received a Jesse H. Neal Award for timely coverage. Recently, he relinquished a stock of dozens of Thunderbolt docks and USB-C adapters due to limited workspace.