Asus has received an exemption from the United States ban on foreign-made consumer routers, but the company is declining to explain how it obtained that relief. The exemption took effect on September 9, arriving in time for Asus to sell its first early Wi-Fi 8 routers in the US market. The company has not publicly announced any plan to move manufacturing to the United States. It also would not confirm to The Verge whether it submitted such a plan at all.
Asus spokesperson JJ Guerrero initially provided a statement saying the company had submitted the required plan to the FCC and was working with trusted manufacturing partners to support its future networking product portfolio in the US. When The Verge repeatedly asked whether that meant a plan to build equipment in the United States rather than equipment intended for US buyers, Asus did not respond. More than 12 days passed without clarification.
The US ban, imposed this spring, covers all future foreign-made consumer routers unless manufacturers meet two conditions. Companies must convince the government they pose no national security threat, and they must submit a detailed, time-bound plan to establish or expand manufacturing inside the United States. The FCC granted Asus a blanket exemption covering all its future routers through March 2028. According to the report, the agency asks companies no security questions to obtain an exemption, indicating the policy centers on where routers are made rather than product safety testing.
Netgear received a similar blanket exemption in April, and the FCC did not respond to a request for comment then or to a fact-check request for this story. Both companies say their manufacturing takes place in countries considered US allies. Netgear adds that it no longer procures internet-connected components from manufacturers in China or from entities owned or controlled by China. Few consumer products are made domestically today for a range of economic reasons, and avoiding US factory construction would not be surprising for Asus.
Both companies are publicly using the exemptions as marketing tools. Netgear emailed existing customers in April to say it is a trusted consumer router company. Asus now says it passed a rigorous cybersecurity review and is certified as a Trusted Networking Equipment Brand and listed as a Trusted Consumer Router Vendor. Searches for those terms lead only to Asus's own claims, not to the federal government.
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