TP-Link just started selling Wi-Fi 8 routers. In the US, good luck finding one for sale.
TP-Link began selling its new Wi-Fi 8 routers this week. Wi-Fi 8 is the wireless standard that follows Wi-Fi 7, built for faster and more reliable connections. The catch is a Trump administration ban on foreign-made routers that keeps TP-Link's new hardware off American shelves. Rivals Asus and Netgear have already received exemptions from that same ban, but TP-Link, a Chinese-affiliated brand, has not.
That split matters more than the spec sheet. If the ban is genuinely about supply chain risk, it is odd that Asus and Netgear, which also build hardware overseas, got a pass while a Chinese-linked brand did not. It suggests the rule is sorting companies by origin more than by actual security practice.
TP-Link built its US router business on being cheap and widely available. For now, Wi-Fi 8 just is not available here at all.