FCC moves to block new foreign-made routers

In an unwelcome surprise, the FCC has placed all foreign-made routers on the so-called Covered List, effectively banning new products from sale within the United States.

The decision follows the FCC’s National Security Determination, which concluded that routers used by homes and home offices could be attacked by foreign actors. As a result, “routers produced in a foreign country” will be added to the Covered List. That means, in effect, no future routers manufactured in a foreign country will receive FCC licenses to be sold in the United States.

And the Covered List has teeth. At one time, products manufactured by Huawei, such as this Matebook laptop, were sold in the United States. Phones like the Huawei Mate 10 were, too. On March 12, 2021, however, the FCC created the Covered List. Huawei was named to the original list, and its products have vanished from American store shelves, as have telecommunications products from ZTE as well as antimalware products from Kaspersky Lab.

Now, the FCC has ruled that foreign-made routers are too vulnerable to attack to be sold in the United States.

Being on the Covered List does not necessarily mean that Americans won’t be permitted to own routers on the list, or, conversely, that retailers will be able to sell old stock. In this sense, it’s not a formal ban.

“Today’s action does not impact a consumer’s continued use of routers they previously acquired,” the FCC said in a statement. “Nor does it prevent retailers from continuing to sell, import, or market router models approved previously through the FCC’s equipment authorization process. By operation of the FCC’s Covered List rules, the restrictions imposed today apply to new device models.”

On the other hand, being added to the Covered List can serve a similar purpose: The FCC must authorize all new devices that emit radio waves for sale in the U.S. If the FCC refuses to authorize new routers that are produced outside the United States, they simply won’t be sold. At that point, a retailer could decide to cut relations with a company entirely.

There’s a real possibility that would happen, too. After Huawei was placed on the Covered List on 2021, existing approved devices could still be sold in the U.S. But in October 2025, FCC chair Brendan Carr said that the agency would vote to “establish a process for the FCC to prohibit the import, marketing, or sale of already-authorized devices that the agency subsequently placed on the Covered List based on national security concerns.” The agency did so, creating a mechanism to prevent the sale of those devices.

Are routers too insecure?

Experts have long warned thar routers are one of the most insecure ways into a home network, precisely because consumers don’t update them as often as they should. That can lead to catastrophic vulnerabilities or just persistent loopholes that can be easily fixed.

The FCC said it believes foreign-made routers now pose too much of a security risk, period.

“Recently, malicious state and non-state sponsored cyber attackers have increasingly leveraged the vulnerabilities in small and home office routers produced abroad to carry out direct attacks against American civilians in their homes,” the FCC’s National Security Determination concluded. “From disrupting network connectivity to enabling local networking espionage and intellectual property theft, foreign-produced routers present unacceptable risks to Americans.

“Additionally, routers produced abroad were directly implicated in the Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon cyberattacks which targeted critical American communications, energy, transportation, and water infrastructure,” the statement added. “Routers in the United States must have trusted supply chains so we are not providing foreign actors with a built-in backdoor to American homes, businesses, critical infrastructure, and emergency services.”

According to the FCC, the Determination applies to all routers “produced” in a foreign country, though the FCC didn’t define whether that means foreign companies that make routers or domestic router companies with manufacturing operations overseas or who use foreign contract manufacturers. Numerous router manufacturers have headquarters in the United States, including Netgear and Linksys, but many manufacture their devices overseas. (Netgear uses a variety of contract manufacturers, including Foxconn, in Taiwan, according to a 10-K form filed in 2025.) Conversely, a company like TP-Link, which was founded in China, established its international headquarters in the United States.

“Virtually all routers are made outside the United States, including those produced by U.S.-based companies like TP-Link, which manufactures its products in Vietnam,” a spokesperson for TP-Link said in a statement. “It appears that the entire router industry will be impacted by the FCC’s announcement concerning new devices not previously authorized by the FCC. TP-Link is confident in the security of our supply chain and we welcome this evaluation of the entire industry.”

Broadcom and Netgear did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PCWorld asked the FCC for comment after business hours.

The FCC did list several exemptions, however, described as “Conditional Approvals” by the agency. None of them are consumer routers by any stretch, however: They include control mechanisms for drones, including those made by SiFly, Mobilicom, the ScoutDI Scout 137 drone system, and the Verge Aero X1 drone system.

This story was updated at 5:19 PM on March 23 wit additional comment from TP-Link.