Trump administration exempts Starlink from national security ban on foreign-made routers

Starlink Won an Exemption From the FCC's Foreign-Router Ban. So Did Its Competitors.

The FCC has exempted SpaceX's Starlink from its ban on Wi-Fi routers manufactured outside the United States, clearing the company through a Department of War review that remains in effect until February 1, 2028 1.

Starlink produces routers in Vietnam, even though SpaceX also runs a factory in Texas where some units carry a "Made in the USA" stamp 1. Under the FCC's rules, that Vietnamese manufacturing should have placed Starlink on the wrong side of a national security wall.

In March, the FCC expanded its Covered List, a registry of communications equipment classified as an unacceptable national security risk, to include every consumer-grade router built wholly or partly outside the US 1. The rule came with a built-in escape route: router makers could petition the Department of War or the Department of Homeland Security to certify their devices as safe, and the FCC would honor that determination 1.

Netgear was first through it, winning clearance on April 14 1. Amazon followed with approval for its Eero line and the routers intended for its Leo satellite internet service 1. Starlink is the latest entrant on a list the FCC calls "conditional approvals," published on the agency's own website 1.

One prominent name is conspicuously absent. TP-Link, founded in China and now headquartered in the US, has not received a waiver 1. The Trump administration has indicated that vendors with Chinese ties will encounter the steepest obstacles to obtaining exemptions 1.

The structural math undercuts the entire framework. Consumer routers are overwhelmingly produced overseas or incorporate foreign-made components, which means practically every major brand selling in the American market requires a waiver to launch new models 1. The ban applies only to devices seeking certification after the March rule change; routers already approved remain untouched 1.

The result is a sorting mechanism dressed as a security barrier. DJI, the Chinese drone manufacturer, has already filed suit against the FCC over its placement on the Covered List, and router vendors who are denied exemptions could follow the same course 1.

For anyone building or investing in networking infrastructure, the practical risk model has shifted. The Covered List was framed as a defense against compromised hardware entering American networks. Starlink's routers ship from Vietnam. Amazon's Eero line requires the same clearance. The security determination is made inside the Department of War, and the public output is a notice announcing the outcome.

The Covered List was built to keep suspect hardware out of American networks. What it has produced instead is a permission system where the operative question is not whether your equipment is secure. It is whether you can persuade the right office to certify that it is.