A TP-Link router. The Chinese-made TP-Link router used by Amazon, hundreds of ISPs, and 65% of the US market, is facing an investigation that could see it banned by the government. Unspecified sources say that the Commerce Department under President Biden has already subpoenaed TP-Link. Between the three Departments, it's possible that TP-Link will be banned at some point in 2025 — which obviously puts it under the Trump administration.
If a ban takes place, it is remarkably similar to the Trump administration's ban on Huawei technology in 2019. It's also close to how in 2022 the Biden administration's FCC declared Kaspersky anti-virus software to be a national security risk. Now according to the Wall Street Journal, the US Commerce, Defense, and Justice Departments have each opened probes into China's TP-Link.
TP-Link rose to prominence in the US during the pandemic, going from a 20% market share to a 65% one in December 2024. More than 300 ISPs provide TP-Link as their default router. As well as domestic users, TP-Link is reportedly now being used extensively at NASA, the Defense Department, and the DEA. The Biden Administration is considering a full purge of all installed TP-Link routers in federal service, though.
Security is the central concern for the investigations. While TP-Link routers are not specifically linked to the Salt Typhoon attacks, the three Departments are concerned that such action has exposed vulnerabilities that TP-Link is allegedly slow to resolve.
