TP-Link plans Mississippi router assembly as US sales ban persists

TP-Link plans to begin assembling Wi-Fi 8 routers in Mississippi, hoping that investment in US manufacturing will help it secure permission to sell its latest routers in the country. The move matters because a US ban currently prevents sales of consumer routers made wholly or partly abroad, and TP-Link has not received an exemption.

The company signed a letter of intent with Keytronic to assemble routers in Corinth, Mississippi, potentially from 2027, pending regulatory approval. TP-Link has proposed investing nearly $1 billion in US factories and says the plans could create hundreds of jobs, but it has warned that many components are not available from domestic suppliers. The exemption process also requires a national security assessment by the Department of Defence or Homeland Security, and officials have not published a clear threshold for how much US manufacturing would qualify.