The leading Wi-Fi router brand in the United States is under threat. TP-Link, who control between 30-65 percent of the US market, has come under repeated attack since late 2024, with detractors suggesting it has links to Chinese state threat actors.
There are widespread calls for a blanket ban on TP-Link devices, as we first reported in February 2025, but the calls have only grown stronger since then.
However, TP-Link denies any allegations. Furthermore, others in the security sphere also find the government’s allegations against TP-Link difficult to comprehend, even if the company’s wireless hardware has been highlighted in attacks on US soil in recent years.
So, the big question is: can you keep using your TP-Link router, or is it all one big smear campaign to take down a Chinese company?
Why the US wants to ban TP-Link routers
It’s been on the cards for over a year now
A potential US ban on TP-Link routers has been circulating since late 2024, for more reasons than one.
For example, a 2024 Microsoft report revealed a network of compromised TP-Link routers had been backdoored multiple times by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, gaining access to a number of businesses.
Then there was a US government security investigation (Bloomberg) into TP-Link following allegations of predatory pricing behavior in the US market. US officials suggested that the Chinese government was assisting TP-Link to undercut the competition, enabling the manufacturer to gain an inflated market share.
And before both of these events, Check Point Research exposed a dangerous firmware implant specifically affecting TP-Link routers. The security research company attributed the attacks to a Chinese state-sponsored hacking firm known as “Camaro Dragon,” and involved a custom attack that gave near complete control over an infected device.
TP-Link even issued a warning about its own hardware in 2025, revealing that it had once again been compromised by a Chinese threat actor and used to attack Microsoft 365 accounts.
TP-Link splits from TP-Link
But the allegations didn’t stop
The allegations about TP-Link go even further back, though. In 2022, TP-Link split its Chinese and US operations, with the latter establishing a headquarters in Irvine, California. It has its own shareholdings, workforce, and so on, and was intended to build legitimacy and distance the company from its Chinese origins. The split was officially completed in 2025.
However, even that hasn’t been enough to move the security spotlight from TP-Link.
In October 2025, US federal departments and agencies moved to back a proposal to ban TP-Link hardware, as the newly separated company isn’t truly independent. As per The Washington Post, the ban is being sought by the Commerce Department, with support from the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and Defense.
So, should you keep using your TP-Link router?
It’s not time to sell everything you own just yet
Of course, TP-Link strenuously denies the allegations, pointing to its efforts to separate from its Chinese links. Now, this is much easier said than done, but the company has made real efforts to become a separate entity.
“TP-Link vigorously disputes any allegation that its products present national security risks to the United States,” said Ricca Silverio, TP-Link Systems spokesperson. “TP-Link is a U.S. company committed to supplying high-quality and secure products to the U.S. market and beyond.”
However, at the time of writing, there is no need to head out and start selling your TP-Link hardware. Although US officials consider TP-Link a threat, most of that worry comes from access to high-level networks in businesses and organizations. Understandably, there are businesses that the US government doesn’t want backdoored by Chinese hackers, but there isn’t much by way of issue for regular US citizens.#
At least, not yet… or not that we know about. In one sense, it comes down to Donald Rumsfeld’s legendary quote on known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. The government is just trying to figure out where TP-Link fits into it all.
Don’t panic
We’ve seen the US ban companies it accuses of hacking before. In September 2024, Russian antivirus company Kaspersky was banned in the US, the government accusing the security company of giving the Russian state backdoor access to sensitive US documents.
There is also the long rumbling effort to separate TikTok from China’s ByteDance, though that’s for slightly different reasons (and successive incumbent governments have kicked the can down the road). It didn’t stop people from rushing to buy smartphones with TikTok installed after a brief blockade in January 2025.
In each case, bans either took a long time to implement or were implemented and rescinded because of the considerable number of moving parts, political willpower (or lack of), or the sheer damage it would do.
In that, a TP-Link ban won’t happen overnight, even with the considerable weight of Homeland Security, the Defense, and Justice Departments. If anything, there will be a government ban to eradicate any use of TP-Link from critical systems, then a potential consumer-facing ban.
But, in short, don’t panic.