Trump FCC’s router ban

FCC exempts Netgear from ban on foreign routers, doesn’t explain why

Trump FCC starts handing out exemptions to its ban on foreign-made routers.

Jon Brodkin – Apr 15, 2026 1:58 pm | 137

Netgear's Nighthawk RS600, RS500, and RS200 routers introduced in 2024. Credit: Netgear

Netgear is the first major vendor of consumer routers to obtain an exemption from the US government’s sweeping ban on foreign-made routers.

The Federal Communications Commission yesterday announced an exemption for Netgear’s Nighthawk and Orbi routers, and its cable gateways and modems. It came about three weeks after the FCC said it would no longer approve consumer-grade routers made at least partly outside the US, except in cases where the Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security determines that the router does not pose national security risks.

Under the new router ban, the Trump administration decides—through an opaque process in which it’s unclear why any particular company receives an exemption—which companies’ devices can be sold to consumers. Netgear, which is based in the US, was able to move quickly through the multi-agency approval process.

“We’re pleased to share that Netgear is the first retail consumer router company to receive conditional approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a trusted consumer router company,” Netgear CEO CJ Prober wrote yesterday. “We hope this recognition gives you added peace of mind—knowing that the network powering your home meets rigorous standards.”

Router makers seeking conditional approvals must submit a justification for the use of foreign manufacturing and a “detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing in the United States.” The FCC and Netgear didn’t say what kind of justification or plan was submitted by Netgear.

Exemption lasts until October 2027

Netgear’s exemption lasts until October 1, 2027, and will have to be renewed. The FCC also gave an exemption of the same length to Adtran’s service delivery gateways. Adtran mostly provides networking products for large businesses, including cable and telecom companies, but also sells residential routers.

The Trump administration is reserving the right to block security patches and other software updates. The FCC last month gave all previously approved routers a waiver allowing software updates until March 1, 2027, leaving open the possibility that routers may not be allowed to receive updates after that date.

The FCC imposed the device ban only on consumer-grade routers, even though network gear used by large businesses presents a natural target for the foreign hackers the router ban is ostensibly supposed to thwart. The FCC announcement of exemptions for Netgear and Adtran didn’t provide any specific reason to think the companies’ routers are more secure than others commonly used in the US.

The ban didn’t have an immediate effect on router supply because it only affected devices that had not yet been approved through the FCC’s standard equipment authorization process. Routers previously approved for sale in the US can continue to be imported and sold without obtaining a special exemption.

Virtually every new router needs exemption

Nearly every router maker will have to obtain an exemption for future devices. “Virtually no consumer router is manufactured entirely within the United States,” according to a report released last week by the Global Electronics Association trade group. “Even US-headquartered brands rely on overseas contract manufacturers, and the component supply chain is rooted in Asia regardless of final assembly location: Wi-Fi chipsets from Qualcomm, Broadcom, or MediaTek (fabricated at TSMC in Taiwan or Samsung in South Korea), multilayer ceramic capacitors from Murata or TDK (Japan), and PCBs overwhelmingly produced in China and Taiwan.”

The report adds that “Netgear, Amazon (Eero), Google (Nest WiFi), Ubiquiti, and Linksys, all US-based, manufacture entirely or predominantly outside the United States and are therefore subject to the restriction for any new models. The sole major router product that potentially escapes the order’s reach is SpaceX’s Starlink router, assembled at facilities in Texas, which is not sold as a standalone product but accompanies the satellite dish as part of the Starlink service kit.”

The FCC is granting exemptions under the same process it set up for its ban on foreign-made drones. The FCC’s announcement of exemptions yesterday included one drone maker, the UK-based Sees.ai, which makes systems for inspecting electric grids. Previous drone exemptions were granted to US-based companies SiFly Aviation and Verge Aero, the Norwegian company ScoutDI, and Israeli company Mobilicom.

Chinese drone companies DJI, the market share leader, and its smaller rival Autel have yet to receive exemptions. “If the router Conditional Approval process follows a similar pattern, Chinese-origin manufacturers like TP-Link may face a presumptive denial, while companies with manufacturing in allied nations like Taiwan, Vietnam, or South Korea could find an easier path,” the Global Electronics Association report said. This easier path for non-Chinese companies is “by no means guaranteed,” the report said.

TP-Link was founded in China but relocated to the US in 2024. It was already facing the possibility of a US ban over a year before the FCC’s industry-wide router action, but the Trump administration never formalized a TP-Link ban. TP-Link may hope its relocation to the US will help it win an exemption, but the Global Electronics Association report said the drone process suggests that “Chinese-origin manufacturers may face a presumptive denial regardless of corporate restructuring.”

Fast approvals key for router supply, group says

Even if the Trump administration is inclined to approve most exemption requests, the industry trade group’s report said there are doubts about how fast the administration can process applications for the dozens of new models introduced annually.

“Existing channel stock of previously authorized models may last three to six months, creating a window during which the market can absorb the disruption, but that window closes if the approval process proves as restrictive or slow as the drone precedent suggests,” the report said. The system “introduces a structural advantage for the largest firms” because “documentation and onshoring obligations are extensive and smaller manufacturers and startups may lack the resources to navigate the process,” it said.

The industry already “reduc[ed] Chinese-origin imports from 24 percent of units in 2019 to 4 percent in 2025” in a shift that cost billions and required “full cooperation of contract manufacturing ecosystems across Southeast Asia,” the report said. “The Conditional Approval framework now asks the industry to execute a second migration of comparable magnitude, this time to domestic soil, on a timeline measured in quarters rather than years, and without the established manufacturing ecosystems, workforce pipelines, or supplier networks that made the first migration possible.”

The report warned that if the approval process isn’t quick, residential consumers and home Internet service providers “will face constrained selection and delayed access to next-generation products at precisely the moment Wi-Fi 7 adoption should be accelerating.”

Jon Brodkin Senior IT Reporter

Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry.

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