Your tech may be reporting to Beijing. Here’s how to find out where your gadgets were made and how to wall them off in five minutes.
Two Chinese companies make nearly half the world’s cellular modules, the chips inside doorbells, thermostats and fridges. Your smart gadgets, friend, may be chatting with Beijing. Five minutes on your router shuts the conversation down.
🤯 WOW! Two Chinese companies, Quectel and Fibocom, build nearly half the world’s cellular modules, the little radios inside doorbells, thermostats and fridges. A national security report says those chips “may enable data collection and remote access.”
Read time: 2.5 minutes
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“Kim, love your show! You guys are so funny! You mentioned China is using our routers to spy on us. How can I tell where mine is made? And it seems like every gadget is made in China and it’s a lost cause.” — Jason in Madison, WI
Thanks, Jason. Please tell Andrew. My cohost has not laughed at one of my jokes since the Obama administration.
You’re half right. The wrong half is the one that protects your house.
Yes, most of what’s plugged in at your place was built overseas. You can’t shop your way out. But “it’s all made there” and “there’s nothing I can do” are different sentences. The second one is what they’re counting on.
📡 What’s inside
Your doorbell has a cellular module, a stamp-size chip that connects it to the internet. Two Chinese companies, Quectel and Fibocom, make nearly half of them worldwide.
Chinese law requires companies to hand over data to state intelligence when asked. Not “may.” Required.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies found those chips “may enable data collection and remote access.” Researchers caught smart TVs from TCL, Hisense and Skyworth reporting on other devices in the house. Your TV, taking attendance.
In March, the FCC blocked new foreign-made routers from sale here. Breathe, Jason. Yours is fine and gets security updates until at least early 2027.
🔍 Where was it made?
Ask your favorite chatbot:
Where is the [brand and model] made, and who makes its wireless chip? Name the parent company, its home country and your sources. Say so if you’re not sure.
That last line is the trick. Without it, AI invents a factory and says it with a straight face.
You can also verify at ProductFrom.com, free. Still stuck? Flip the device over and paste the FCC ID into fccid.io. That’s the receipt.
🛜 Should you buy a new router?
No American company makes one here yet, so don’t go hunting for “Made in USA” on the box.
Routers already approved keep getting security updates until at least March 1, 2027. After that, the FCC hasn’t said. If yours is aging, don’t let that date find you.
If your router is at least 5 years old, I’d buy Netgear Nighthawk or Orbi. San Jose company, gear built in Vietnam and Taiwan, and one of only two brands the FCC has cleared through October 2027. Eero is a fine second.
Buy it now. What’s on shelves is the last of the pre-ban inventory at pre-ban prices, and nobody’s restocking.
Now, there is a fix. It’s putting your internet of things gadgets on their own network. I couldn’t fit the steps here. So click here to be magically transported to the instructions. I spent a lot of time on making sure you know how to do this the right way.
