Asus won’t say how it escaped the US router ban

The US this spring barred the sale of new foreign-made consumer routers unless manufacturers convinced the government they posed no national security risk and submitted a detailed plan to establish or expand US manufacturing. Asus received an exemption on September 9 allowing it to sell new routers in the US, but has not publicly confirmed submitting the required US manufacturing plan or clarified whether its exemption rests on US production.

By AI Newsroom· Reviewed by Pranav, Founder & Editor-in-ChiefPublished 1 minute agoUpdated 1 minute ago0 views

Asus won’t say how it escaped the US router ban

Why It Matters

The exemption calls into question how the administration is applying the ban’s manufacturing requirement and whether the FCC is enforcing its stated policy goals; the lack of public detail from Asus and the agency limits transparency about the rule’s implementation.

Key Facts

Policy enacted: This spring the US banned future foreign-made consumer routers unless makers proved no national security threat and provided a time-bound US manufacturing plan.
Asus exemption date: September 9, 2026 (As of this date Asus has an exemption).
Asus public confirmation: Asus has not publicly released a plan to bring manufacturing to the US and declined to clarify whether it submitted a US manufacturing plan.
Initial Asus statement: Spokesperson JJ Guerrero initially told The Verge that 'ASUS has submitted the required plan to the FCC and is working with trusted manufacturing partners to support our future networking product portfolio in the U.S.'
Follow-up response: After repeated requests for clarification about whether the plan involves US manufacturing, Asus did not respond for over 12 days.

This spring the US adopted a rule blocking the sale of future foreign-made consumer routers unless vendors satisfy two conditions: convince the government they are not a national security threat and deliver a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing inside the United States. The Verge reports that Asus obtained an exemption from that ban on September 9, positioning the company to sell its early Wi‑Fi 8 routers in the US market.

Despite the exemption, Asus has not publicly posted a manufacturing plan for US production, nor has it confirmed to The Verge that it submitted one. An initial statement from Asus spokesperson JJ Guerrero said the company had submitted the required plan to the FCC and was coordinating with manufacturing partners to support its US networking portfolio. When pressed about whether that meant manufacturing would occur in the United States rather than simply designating hardware for US sale, Asus did not clarify and left reporters waiting more than 12 days for a response.

The Verge piece also notes that the FCC’s exemption process does not appear to probe product-level security; companies can receive blanket relief covering all future routers through March 2028. That raises questions about whether the rule, which frames itself around national security, is effectively being implemented as a policy about where devices are produced rather than a targeted security vetting of specific products.

Other vendors have received similar treatment: Netgear won a blanket exemption in April and has publicly stated it no longer sources internet-connected components from manufacturers in China or entities owned or controlled by China. Both Asus and Netgear have promoted their exemptions in marketing materials and described themselves with labels like 'Trusted Networking Equipment Brand' or 'Trusted Consumer Router Vendor,' phrases that, per The Verge, appear to originate with the companies' own claims rather than searchable government designations. The FCC did not respond to The Verge’s requests for comment on the exemptions or the fact-check request for the report.