Abstract:
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission recently approved "conditional approval" for ASUS, allowing the Taiwanese manufacturer's routers and wireless network equipment to continue to enter the U.S. market. Previously, the U.S. government has included foreign-made consumer routers on the so-called "Covered List," which in principle prohibits relevant new models from obtaining regulatory certifications required for sales. However, Asus passed the security review process established by the U.S. government and became one of the first major router manufacturers to successfully obtain an exemption.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission added all consumer routers produced in foreign countries to the Covered List in March this year on the grounds that these devices may pose supply chain security and network security risks. The U.S. government believes that foreign-made routers may be used maliciously, posing a threat to U.S. residents' home networks, critical infrastructure and even national security.
However, this measure does not require American consumers to throw away all foreign brand routers in their homes. Routers that have received FCC certification and are sold in the U.S. market are not affected by the ban. Devices purchased by consumers can continue to be used, and retailers can continue to sell older models that have been approved. The ban targets new future models and foreign-made routers that have not yet received U.S. regulatory approval.
At the same time, the U.S. government has left an exception for manufacturers to apply for "Conditional Approval" to prove that relevant products do not pose unacceptable national security risks. After obtaining approval, manufacturers can continue to apply for FCC certification of new products and launch new router products in the US market.
ASUS has now successfully passed this process.
This approval covers a wide range of products, including ASUS RT series routers, ROG GT series, ROG Strix GS series, TUF Gaming series, ExpertWiFi series, ZenWiFi Mesh series, 5G MiFi series, as well as wireless repeaters and wireless access points.
This means that Asus’ current major consumer and enterprise wireless network product lines have all received regulatory passes to enter the US market, rather than only a few specific routers being exempted.
According to information released by the US regulatory authorities, this conditional approval is currently valid until March 6, 2028. During this period, ASUS can continue to sell eligible new products in the U.S. market and continue to advance subsequent updates and certifications of its wireless network products.
This result is particularly important for Asus because most of the company's routers are not manufactured in the United States. ASUS's network products are mainly produced in Taiwan, but it also has production facilities in mainland China and cooperates with a number of third-party manufacturers. In recent years, affected by tariffs and supply chain changes, ASUS has also expanded some of its production activities to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Czech Republic.
Therefore, if the U.S. government implemented the ban strictly in accordance with the "foreign-made" standard, Asus would have been seriously affected. After obtaining conditional approval, the company can continue to sell new generation Wi-Fi devices in the United States and can continue to promote future Wi-Fi 8 products.
The timing of ASUS's approval is also very special, because the entire U.S. consumer router market is undergoing a significant reshuffle.
TP-Link, one of the largest home wireless router manufacturers in the United States, still has not received approval under similar conditions. Since TP-Link has a very high market share in the United States, whether its products can continue to obtain regulatory approval for new models has become an important variable in the future pattern of the U.S. router market.
One of the main concerns of the U.S. government about TP-Link was whether there were links between the company and the Chinese government and the Chinese military. TP-Link has long denied a relationship, but U.S. regulators still haven't given it the same approval as Asus.
This also makes ASUS a direct beneficiary of this policy change.
For American consumers, if TP-Link continues to be restricted and Asus can launch new products normally, the market competition pattern may change significantly. Asus already has a strong influence in the fields of high-end gaming routers, Mesh systems and Wi-Fi 7 products, and the upcoming Wi-Fi 8 products may further expand its advantages.
Asus has already demonstrated Wi-Fi 8 routers such as the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro at this year's Taipei Compute Show, as well as the ZenWiFi BN12 Mesh system for ordinary home users. Wi-Fi 8 does not simply increase the theoretical transmission speed, but pays more attention to network stability, latency under high load environments, and the performance when a large number of devices are connected at the same time.
Therefore, without this conditional approval, ASUS may face considerable uncertainty in launching these new generation wireless network products in the United States in the future. Now that it has obtained regulatory approval, its Wi-Fi 8 product line has the conditions to continue to advance at least in the US market.
However, "conditional approval" does not mean that the US government has since lifted restrictions on foreign-made routers. Rather, it is more like a set of exemption mechanisms for security review of specific vendors and products.
The U.S. government requires manufacturers applying for conditional approval to disclose information including business ownership, board members, foreign government shareholdings and control. They also need to submit detailed manufacturing and supply chain information to explain the design, development, manufacturing, assembly of the product and where the main components come from.
In addition, manufacturers also need to submit a U.S. manufacturing and supply chain localization plan, including a specific timetable for establishing or expanding U.S. production capabilities, and follow-up progress reports.
In other words, the US government does not simply judge "whether this brand is an American company" or "whether the router is produced in a certain country." Instead, it hopes to further understand the company's equity structure, supply chain, production location and product safety mechanism.
This also explains why the so-called "foreign-made router ban" in the United States is actually more complicated than it appears.
When the FCC issued a ban in March this year, it was clearly stated that foreign-produced consumer routers were considered to be likely to create supply chain vulnerabilities and network security risks. The U.S. government also specifically mentioned cyber attacks such as Volt, Flax, and Salt Typhoon, and believed that foreign-made network equipment could become an entry point for attackers to enter U.S. network infrastructure.
However, the FCC also emphasized that the ban targets new equipment and will not retroactively affect products that have been purchased and are being used. Routers that have previously received FCC certification can continue to be sold, used and receive software updates.
This is very important for American consumers, because if regulatory policies directly prevent a large number of existing routers from receiving security patches, it may create new network security problems. Routers often sit at the edge of home and business networks, and once they stop getting firmware updates, known vulnerabilities can persist.
Currently, the U.S. government is also gradually adjusting the implementation of this policy. For example, for software and firmware updates for existing devices, regulators have extended the relevant exemption period to avoid bans that will eventually lead to a large number of deployed routers being unable to obtain security fixes.
Asustek's U.S. operations are temporarily freed from the worst uncertainty after receiving conditional approval. Not only can the company continue to sell existing products, it can also continue to advance new generations of routers and wireless networking equipment.
At the same time, this incident also reflects that the U.S. router market is forming a very special situation: on the one hand, the U.S. government hopes to reduce its dependence on foreign-made network equipment; on the other hand, the current U.S. consumer router industry itself is highly dependent on the global supply chain, and there are very few products that are truly designed, manufactured, and supply chain closed-loop in the United States.
Even some American brands of routers rely on Asian supply chains for their manufacturing and components. Therefore, if the restrictions are strictly based on "foreign manufacturing", it will actually be difficult for the U.S. market to find enough substitute products.
Asus's conditional approval this time is largely the result of a compromise between reality and policy. Instead of permanently banning products simply because they are produced overseas, the U.S. government is allowing manufacturers to demonstrate compliance through security reviews, supply chain disclosures, and localization plans.
For Asus, this means that it can continue to consider the United States as an important market, at least for some time to come. For consumers, it means that ASUS’s Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 8, ROG gaming routers, ZenWiFi Mesh and other wireless network products will not suddenly withdraw from the U.S. market due to the foreign-made router policy introduced this year.
What really deserves attention is whether TP-Link and other manufacturers that have not yet received conditional approval can pass similar reviews in the future. If more manufacturers are exempted, the U.S. router ban may eventually evolve into a system of company-by-house review of supply chains and network security; if only a few manufacturers are approved, the competitive landscape of the U.S. consumer router market may change even more significantly.
Comments