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# Four States Suing Major Router Manufacturer Over China Ties
- URL: https://broadbandbreakfast.com/four-states-suing-major-router-manufacturer-over-china-ties/
- Published: 2026-10-13T20:21:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-14T21:47:05.000Z
- Description: TP-Link accounts for a significant portion of the U.S. consumer router market
- Author: Jake Neenan
- Tags: Cybersecurity, TP-Link, Florida, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, steve kovsky, James Uthmeier, mike hilgers, FCC, #with-siderail

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2026 – Four states sued major Wi-Fi router manufacturer TP-Link last week, alleging the company hid ties to China from consumers.

The company said the lawsuits were baseless. 

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[Florida](https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/258584264-complaint.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com), [Iowa](https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/media/cms/261006%5FIowa%5Fv%5FTPLink%5FPetition%5F62BE0B0B82A83.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com), [Montana](https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MTAG/2026/10/06/file%5Fattachments/3806954/001%20Complaint.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com), and [Nebraska](https://ago.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/doc/Complaint%5F11.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) said in separate lawsuits that “much of TP-Link’s research, development, and manufacturing remains in China, entrenched in China’s state-sponsored technology ecosystem,” and sought to ban the company’s gear.

The attorneys general argued it was possible Chinese law would require TP-Link to turn over information to Chinese intelligence services.

“The coordinated lawsuits are built on false premises. They do nothing to advance national security while unfairly penalizing an industry-leading U.S. company,” **Steve Kovsky**, TP-Link’s corporate affairs officer, said [in a statement](https://www.tp-link.com/us/press/news/22570/?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com).

The California-based company, legally TP-Link Systems, was spun off from Chinese firm TP-Link Technologies in 2024\. 

TP-Link told federal regulators it took up 20 percent of the total router market [in April](https://broadbandbreakfast.com/amazon-leo-routers-exempt-from-fcc-ban/), while a former National Security Agency official told Congress [last year](https://docs.house.gov/meetings/ZS/ZS00/20250305/117983/HHRG-119-ZS00-Wstate-JoyceR-20250305.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) the company accounted for more than 60 percent of the consumer market.

The company says it manufactures its gear in Vietnam, “but that is fiction,” Florida Attorney General **James Uthmeier** said in a video posted [on X](https://x.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2107502680004575472?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com).

The lawsuits pointed to a 2025 [Bloomberg report](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-22/wi-fi-giant-s-vietnam-factory-raises-questions-over-china-split?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) that found more than 99 percent of the components assembled in TP-Link’s Vietnam plant came from China. Bloomberg [also reported](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-24/router-maker-tp-link-faces-us-criminal-antitrust-investigation?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) last year that federal regulators had been pursuing a criminal antitrust probe against the company since the Biden administration.

In TP-Link’s release, it said it had spent months supplying state regulators with “clear, verifiable documentation” that its routers were made in Vietnam and that it wasn’t controlled by China.

Texas also sued the company earlier this year. That lawsuit is ongoing.

Nebraska Attorney General **Mike Hilgers** led a group of 21 attorneys general [in a letter](https://ago.nebraska.gov/sites/default/files/doc/Letter%20%28002%29.pdf?ref=broadbandbreakfast.com) to the Federal Communications Commission outlining similar concerns to the lawsuits.

Signatories were from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

Federal lawmakers have previously called for scrutiny of TP-Link because of its past ties to China. But this year, acting on a determination from other federal law enforcement agencies, the FCC instituted a sweeping ban on new models of router made outside the U.S.

The agency has said it’s an effort to encourage reshoring U.S. manufacturing, something that can’t happen quickly. The FCC has granted temporary waivers (called conditional approval) from the rule to several router manufacturers, like Asus, Netgear, and SpaceX.

Multiple trade groups have also secured blanket waivers for their suppliers amid a global shortage of memory and other components.

TP-Link has asked for a similar waiver, but it hasn’t been approved. To receive one, a company has to submit ownership and supply chain information, plus a plan to move manufacturing to the U.S.

“TP-Link is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to bring manufacturing and research and development of its consumer routers to the U.S., in alignment with the FCC’s policy goals, the company said in April. “Conditional Approval will enable TP-Link to complete those investments.”