TP-Link routers might not be available for much longer in the US, according to a Washington Post report last week. A potential ban is looking increasingly likely, as more than half a dozen federal departments and agencies back the proposal,
The news first broke in December of last year, when The Wall Street Journal reported that investigators at the Departments of Commerce, Defense and Justice had all opened probes into the company due to national security risks stemming from its ties to China. Since then, news on the TP-Link front has been relatively quiet.
Now, the proposal has gained interagency approval.
"Commerce officials concluded TP-Link Systems products pose a risk because the US-based company's products handle sensitive American data and because the officials believe it remains subject to jurisdiction or influence by the Chinese government," the Washington Post reported.
TP-Link's ties to the Chinese government are only allegations. The company -- technically called TP-Link Systems -- has strenuously denied to me in the past that it's a Chinese company.
"As an independent US company, no foreign country or government, including China, has access to or control over the design and production of our products," a TP-Link spokesperson told CNET.
TP-Link was founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1996 by two brothers, Jeffrey (Jianjun) Chao and Jiaxing Zhao. In October 2024, two months after members of the House Select Committee called for an investigation into TP-Link routers, the company split into two: TP-Link Technologies and TP-Link Systems.
The latter is headquartered in Irvine, California, and has approximately 500 employees in the US and 11,000 in China, according to the Washington Post report. TP-Link Systems is owned by Chao and his wife.
"TP-Link's unusual degree of vulnerabilities and required compliance with [Chinese] law are in and of themselves disconcerting," the lawmakers wrote in October 2024. "When combined with the [Chinese] government's common use of [home office] routers like TP-Link to perpetrate extensive cyberattacks in the United States, it becomes significantly alarming."
The company has become a dominant force in the US router market since the pandemic. According to the Journal report, it grew from 20% of total router sales in 2019 to around 65% this year. TP-Link disputed these numbers to CNET, and a separate analysis from the IT platform Lansweeper found that 12% of home routers currently used in the US are made by TP-Link. More than 300 internet providers issue TP-Link routers to their customers, according to the Wall Street Journal report.
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