A maker of smart home products and networking equipment that’s drawn recent Congressional scrutiny due to its ties to China is setting up its new worldwide headquarters in Irvine, after paying top dollar for an office near the base of Kia America.
TP-Link Systems Inc. bought the three-floor, 157, 279-square-foot building at 5 Peters Canyon Road from Pendulum Property Partners for $258 per square foot. CBRE Senior Vice President Eric Purmort represented TP-Link Systems.
Pendulum acquired the property in early 2017 for $41.6 million, resulting in a slight loss on the deal. It was finalized with TP-Link Systems on Sept. 5, according to public documents obtained by the Business Journal.
Purmort said TP-Link Systems would be an owner user of the building and establish 5 Peters Canyon Road as its new headquarters.
“For owner-users, demand for Class A office buildings at competitive pricing levels remains high,” he told the Business Journal in an email.
“This location offers excellent connectivity to the surrounding South OC, IBC and Central OC areas, making it ideal for TP-Link to retain and recruit its top-tier and growing workforce. This building is truly one-of-a-kind, and a great investment as TP-Link plants its flag deeper into Irvine as its U.S. corporate headquarters.”
Chinese Compromise?
TP-Link Systems, which started operations here in 2023, will be moving its headquarters to 5 Peters Canyon Road from 10 Mauchly in Irvine.
A pair of US lawmakers are calling on the Department of Commerce to investigate TP-Link over concerns the Chinese government can secretly exploit the company’s products to spy on Americans, PC Mag reported in August.
U.S. Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who head up a House select committee on countering the Chinese government, haven’t uncovered any direct evidence of TP-Link aiding Chinese state-sponsored spying, the magazine reported.
The pair are worried that the Chinese government could “more easily compromise” the company’s routers because they’re manufactured in China and allegedly suffer from a disproportionate number of security flaws.
“TP-Link’s products account for a substantial part of the U.S. market for Wi-Fi routers and related devices,” the lawmakers wrote in an August letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Although TP-Link has headquarters in both Singapore and the U.S., the company was originally founded in Shenzhen, China, in 1996.
One of its main competitors, D-Link, has it local office about a block away in Irvine.
5 Peters Canyon Road, also known as the Jamboree Business Center, sits on 9.55 acres and was built in 2000. Some tenants leasing space at the building include ADP and Meritage Homes, per CoStar data. The building is located near The Market Place and has immediate access to I-5 Freeway and the (261) toll road.
TP-Link Systems was founded in 1996 and manufactures networking devices and accessories. The company is also a supplier of broadband equipment, distributing its products to more than 120 countries worldwide.