Technology Iteration & Scenario Expansion: New Opportunities for Router Accessories Industry

2026-01-30

Dual Drive of Policy and Market, Sustained Release of Demand

The dual efforts of policy and market have injected strong momentum into the growth of the industry. At the policy level, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has clearly promoted the popularization of gigabit users and the commercial deployment of 5G-A. Relevant measures have directly driven the expansion of the router market, thereby boosting the demand for supporting accessories; at the same time, the equipment renewal policy has extended to network infrastructure, and activities such as operator centralized procurement and trade-in for home routers have further activated the terminal market and promoted the iteration and upgrading of router accessories. At the market level, the recovery trend of demand is clear. Data shows that the scale of China's router market reached 22.1 billion yuan in 2024, and is expected to grow to 24.8 billion yuan in 2025, with a year-on-year increase of 12.2%. The demand for home and enterprise routers is rising simultaneously. Among them, the popularization of Wi-Fi 7 routers has driven a sharp increase in sales of special accessories. Capital also continues to be optimistic about the potential of the track, and the frequency of financing in segmented accessory fields such as radio frequency chips and router antennas has steadily increased, providing sufficient financial support for the development of the industry.

Technology Iteration Empowers, Restructuring the Industry Ecosystem

The popularization of Wi-Fi 7 technology and the upgrading of AI intelligence have become the core engines driving the transformation of the router accessories industry, restructuring the industry development ecosystem. The technological iteration of core accessories continues to accelerate. In the antenna field, high-gain and multi-polarized antennas have gradually become the standard, which can dynamically adjust the signal direction and solve the problem of signal attenuation in complex environments; radio frequency chips focus on optimizing signal stability and anti-interference ability, alleviating the pressure of homogeneous competition in the industry; power adapters have integrated intelligent adaptation technology, which can dynamically adjust power according to router load, achieving dual improvement of energy saving and safety. Intelligent applications have been further implemented. In home scenarios, intelligent antennas adapted to multiple devices improve the user experience; in enterprise scenarios, industrial-grade heat dissipation and high-stability accessories ensure the 24-hour high-intensity operation of routers. Data shows that the global shipment volume of Wi-Fi 7 router accessories accounted for 28% in 2025, and is expected to exceed 55% in 2026, marking that technological iteration has driven the industry into a new stage of high-quality development.

Accelerated Innovation, Promising Incremental Tracks

Driven by both stock upgrading and incremental development, the innovation of router accessory products has accelerated, and a differentiated competition pattern has gradually formed. Product innovation focuses on scenario adaptation and form optimization. 10G Ethernet cables are gradually replacing gigabit Ethernet cables to meet the needs of high-speed network use; graphene heat dissipation accessories, with the advantages of small size and high efficiency, adapt to the trend of router lightweight development; the rise of foldable and distributed routers has promoted the upgrading of supporting accessories towards modularization, and products such as universal power supplies and detachable antennas are favored by the market. At the same time, three major incremental tracks have outstanding potential and become new growth poles of the industry: the Wi-Fi 7 supporting accessories track has seen a surge in demand with the mass production of routers, and the market scale is expected to exceed 3.5 billion yuan in 2026; industrial-grade accessories focus on high stability, adapting to scenarios such as smart street light poles and data centers, with broad long-term growth space; smart home linkage accessories support multi-protocol compatibility, promoting in-depth integration of accessories with ecosystems such as HarmonyOS and expanding the application boundary.

Opportunities and Challenges Coexist, and High-Quality Development Has a Long Way to Go

At present, the collaborative effect of the industrial chain of the router accessories industry is prominent, and a complete industrial cluster has been formed. Upstream raw material and core component suppliers, midstream accessory manufacturers, and downstream router brands and operators form a closed loop. The production capacity in eastern China accounts for more than 60% of the country, and the growth rate of the western market leads the country. However, the development of the industry still faces multiple challenges: there are still bottlenecks in core technologies such as high-end radio frequency chips and Wi-Fi 7 special antennas, and some high-end accessories rely on imports; the homogeneous competition in the mid-to-low-end field is fierce, and price wars compress enterprise profits; industry standards are not unified, and accessory compatibility is insufficient, increasing the replacement cost for consumers; the chaos of counterfeit and shoddy accessories occurs frequently, affecting the healthy development of the industry. Insiders suggest that enterprises should focus on core technology research and development, strengthen industry-university-research collaboration to break through technical bottlenecks; create differentiated products to get rid of homogeneous competition; promote the unification of industry standards and improve accessory compatibility; at the same time, seize policy and market opportunities, base themselves on the domestic market and expand globally, so as to promote the high-quality development of the router accessories industry.