The ban imposed by the U.S. communications authority, the FCC, applied to all new routers intended for consumers.
The ban is absolute, meaning it makes no difference if the company manufacturing the routers is itself American; even such routers have been prohibited since the decision came into force.
Thus, the FCC's ban did not target only China or other countries considered competitors of the United States, but applies to every country in the world: routers manufactured in Canada, Europe or, say, Taiwan are all prohibited.
Manufacturers can, however, apply for an exemption for their own products, in which case the exemption request is evaluated by the FCC.
Now the first router manufacturer has received such an exemption: the American company Netgear received an exemption granted by the FCC and Homeland Security (PDF) on March 14, 2026, for its own products, even though they are not manufactured in the United States.
The exemption covers almost Netgear's entire product range quite extensively, but on the other hand it does not automatically cover Netgear's future models, for which the company will again have to apply separately for a new exemption.
In addition, the exemption now granted is valid only until October 2027. By then, Netgear must obtain permanent approval from the FCC for its products. Before this, only routers manufactured by StarLink met the FCC's requirements, meaning they were the only consumer routers that were manufactured in the United States.
Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 16 Apr 2026 16:54
