TP-Link router pricing and China ties under US government investigation

[midian182]

In a nutshell: TP-Link Systems, one of the most popular router brands in the United States, has become the subject of a criminal antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice. According to reports, the China-linked company's pricing strategies and potential national security risks will be examined by the DoJ and the Commerce Department.

The affordability of TP-Link's routers is part of what makes them so popular. Prosecutors at the DoJ are examining whether the company engaged in predatory pricing to undercut competitors and dominate the US market, writes Bloomberg. The probe began in 2024 under President Biden and continues today under the Trump administration.

TP-Link is also being investigated by the Commerce Department over whether its ties to China pose a security threat. It was reported in December that an office of the Commerce Department had subpoenaed TP-Link, and that its routers could be banned in the US over national security concerns.

TP-Link was founded by brothers Zhao Jianjun and Zhao Jiaxing in 1996. In 2008, TP-Link USA was set up to market and service products in North America, but ownership, management and supply chain all still reported to the Shenzhen-based TP-Link parent.

In 2024, TP-Link USA completed a merger with TP-Link's non-Chinese operations to form TP-Link Systems Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California. This "organisational separation" from the Chinese company ensures each side has its own shareholding structure, board, R&D, production, marketing and support teams.

Regulators and lawmakers are still reviewing whether the structural split truly insulates TP-Link's US arm from Chinese legal jurisdiction – hence the current antitrust and national-security probes.

TP-Link has around 65% of the US market for routers used in homes and small businesses. Twelve of the top twenty best-selling routers on Amazon are TP-Link models, including the number one (TP-Link AX1800 WiFi 6 Router V4) and number two (TP-Link Dual-Band AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 Router Archer AX55) top sellers.

In October 2024, Microsoft exposed a complex network of compromised devices that Chinese hackers used to launch highly evasive password spray attacks against Microsoft Azure customers. The network, dubbed CovertNetwork-1658, had been actively stealing credentials since August 2023. The attacks used a botnet of thousands of small office and home office (SOHO) routers, cameras, and other Internet-connected devices. At its peak, there were more than 16,000 devices in the botnet, most of which were TP-Link routers.

There's a history of security flaws being discovered in TP-Link routers. A critical vulnerability with a CVSS score of 10.0 was found in the Archer C5400X tri-band router for gaming in May 2024, and in 2023, it was reported that Chinese state hackers were infecting TP-Link routers with custom, malicious firmware. The latter incident arrived soon after the US government said Mirai Botnet operators were using TP-Link routers for DDoS attacks.

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TP-Link router pricing and China ties under US government investigation

 

[GodisanAtheist]

China is going to blackmail me with my midget porn and Techspot posts when I am finally elected middle manager at my local Wendy's.

Honestly I wonder if Pete Hegesth uses a TP-Link Router for his signal chat access point?

 

[VariableSpike]

I wonder if one translates this news from government speak is "cisco and all the others are shouting and lobbying us to say they can't make any money, so lets just add tp link to the list of "security issues" and call it a day"

Not going to say China doesn't do espionage or that I even remotely agree with their style of government, but this does smell like a competitor induced witchhunt

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I wonder if one translates this news from government speak is "cisco and all the others are shouting and lobbying us to say they can't make any money, so lets just add tp link to the list of "security issues" and call it a day"

Not going to say China doesn't do espionage or that I even remotely agree with their style of government, but this does smell like a competitor induced witchhunt

Well this is the same TP LINK that refused to patch their older routers that had known security bugs so I wouldnt be giving them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[airbornex]

So let me get this straight—TP-Link controls 65% of the US market, is possibly subsidizing prices to crush competition, and their routers might be doubling as sleeper agents?

"TP-Link: the only router that gives you blazing fast speeds and maybe a direct line to Beijing."

 

[Cocojambo13]

TP-LINK are one of the best routers ever made when it comes to price per what it actually DOES.

They do need to provide more support for older routers but NOBODY from other big brands do.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Leave it to Trump to find any excuse... matter how ridiculously it might be.

 

[NumberNine]

If you think tp-link's got issues, just go read some CVEs for Cisco and similar enterprise network equipment. This is small fry stuff.

Concerning pricing, I avoid locked down Chinese garbage, but tp-link actually makes pretty good gear. If there's no evidence of anything actively hostile baked into the hardware, an OpenWRT flashed tp-link is good value.

 

[Axeia]

This again? Last time it was Huawei that supposedly had backdoors in their network equipment. Never proven but somehow the EU went along with banning Huawei network equipment on the good word of the US.
I guess we should all just buy American Cisco, because their equipment is free of backdoors. Oh wait...

Imo this last bit of the article is poor writing without context - trying to push a narrative rather than do reporting.

There's a history of security flaws being discovered in TP-Link routers. A critical vulnerability with a CVSS score of 10.0 was found in the Archer C5400X tri-band router for gaming in May 2024, and in 2023, it was reported that Chinese state hackers were infecting TP-Link routers with custom, malicious firmware. The latter incident arrived soon after the US government said Mirai Botnet operators were using TP-Link routers for DDoS attacks.

A router with a history of security flaws? Oh no - that's like... all of them.
Chinese state hackers infesting routers? Well duh (so is every other government, and other hacker groups)

Routers are in everyone's home, basically never receive updates and most people don't replace them very often. Very attractive attack vector. TP-link is hardly any different from any other though, LinkSys/Cisco etc are just as bad with updates. If TP-Link outsells everyone else it's only logical they'd be targeted the most as well.

I trust TP-link just as much as any other router manufacturer - very little. I've been running OpenWRT on my routers (and buy only those that support it), software that I trust and that tends to be a lot more stable and feature rich to boot. Most of these Chinese company bans seem to be more about blocking competition rather than anything else.
Hope the EU gives the US the finger this time and TP-link keeps being available there.