The government wants ban the "cheap commodity hardware" you speak of because they're having a hard time putting backdoors into routers that are already pwned by the Chinese: https://www.fcc.gov/faqs-recent-updates-fcc-covered-list-reg...

We'll have to make our own hardware. The value of open-source hardware is not limited to repairability. We want the entire digital communication hardware + software stack to be transparent and fully reproducible. These open-source efforts will eventually include the ASIC designs, and designs for the fab production line that makes the ASICs.