If you’re shopping for a new ASUS router, the company has cleared a major US regulatory hurdle. Its main router families now have a conditional exemption from the restrictions on new foreign-produced consumer router models, running through March 6, 2028. What’s less clear is what ASUS has committed to build in the United States to get it.
The Verge reports that ASUS wouldn’t clarify whether it submitted a US manufacturing plan, despite repeated questions. The government’s application guidance specifically asks for a plan to establish or expand domestic manufacturing. Meanwhile, ASUS is presenting the approval to customers as evidence of a rigorous cybersecurity review.
What ASUS actually received
The FCC’s September 9 notice says the Department of War reviewed submissions and granted conditional approvals covering ASUS Computer International’s RT Router, ROG GT, ROG Strix GS, TUF Gaming, ExpertWiFi, ZenWiFi Mesh and 5G MiFi series, plus repeaters and wireless access points. The FCC then exempted those devices from its Covered List.
The exemption lets new models in the listed ASUS families apply for FCC equipment authorization. Covered equipment can’t receive that authorization, which is generally needed before a consumer router can be imported, marketed or sold in the US.
It also arrives ahead of ASUS’s next networking rollout. The company announced Canadian availability of its ROG Rapture GT-BN98 series on September 4, with a wider October release planned. That announcement left US launch details to follow. An exemption removes a regulatory obstacle; it doesn’t, by itself, put a particular router on a US store shelf.
The manufacturing question ASUS hasn’t answered
The government’s conditional-approval guidance asks manufacturers for ownership information, component origins, manufacturing locations and responsibility for software updates. It also calls for a time-bound US manufacturing plan, a person or office responsible for carrying it out, quarterly progress updates and investment milestones.
According to The Verge, ASUS spokesperson JJ Guerrero said the company had submitted the required plan to the FCC and was working with manufacturing partners to support its future US networking portfolio. The publication asked whether that meant manufacturing equipment in the US. It reported waiting more than 12 days without clarification.
The public FCC notice names the approved product families and their expiration date, but doesn’t disclose ASUS’s manufacturing plan. That leaves buyers unable to see the commitments behind the exemption. It doesn’t establish that ASUS skipped a requirement or that officials waived one.
Read the security claim carefully
On its US support site, ASUS says it passed a “rigorous cybersecurity review” and describes itself as a “Trusted Consumer Router Vendor.” Those are ASUS’s descriptions of the decision.
The FCC notice records a national-security determination and a conditional exemption. It doesn’t publish product-by-product penetration-test results or award a certification under those names. Buyers therefore shouldn’t treat the marketing language as a guarantee that a router has no vulnerabilities, or that every future model has already passed its individual equipment-authorization requirements.
For the router already sitting in your home, there’s no new replacement deadline here. The FCC’s March fact sheet explicitly says the action doesn’t prevent continued use of lawfully acquired routers or the sale and import of previously authorized models. March 6, 2028 is the end of ASUS’s current conditional-approval period, not an announced shutdown date for your Wi-Fi.
ASUS also says security maintenance will continue according to each product’s support lifecycle. That’s the detail worth checking on an existing router: whether your exact model still receives updates. For a future purchase, watch for confirmed US availability and model-specific support information. The exemption helps ASUS bring new hardware to market; the unanswered manufacturing question is about what the company promised in return.
