The attorneys general of Florida, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska have sued TP-Link Systems, the California-based networking and smart home company whose brand originated in Shenzhen, alleging deceptive and unfair marketing practices concerning its routers’ security and its connections to China. The complaint, filed by the Nebraska attorney general, accuses the company of misleading claims about its routers’ security and of concealing “past and ongoing ties to the People’s Republic of China.”
The states cite TP-Link’s dominant retail position: about 36.6 percent of US router unit sales and 31 percent by dollars in 2024, per Circana, with former NSA cybersecurity director Rob Joyce testifying in 2025 that the brand holds at least 60 percent of the US retail market for Wi-Fi systems and small-office/home-office routers. The complaint points to TP-Link routers being exploited in the China-linked Volt Typhoon and Flax Typhoon campaigns, and alleges that despite claiming to have moved to Vietnam, only 0.5 percent of the value of components at its Vietnamese plant is bought locally, with “all other inputs” imported from or through China. It also claims a US-designated Chinese military company did construction work at the Vietnamese factory.
TP-Link rejected the allegations. Corporate affairs officer Steve Kovsky said the lawsuits were based on false premises, did nothing to advance national security and unfairly penalized a US company, adding that the firm had documented that it is not owned or controlled by any foreign government and that US-sold devices are manufactured in Vietnam. “We do not, and will not, share customer network data with foreign governments,” he said, and the company said it would refute the allegations in court. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sued TP-Link on similar grounds earlier this year, and in March 2026 the FCC imposed broader restrictions on new foreign-produced router models, barring new equipment authorizations unless an exemption is granted.