In the second quarter of 2026 (2Q26), the worldwide Ethernet switch market reached $18.9B, growing 43.4% year over year (YoY), according to IDC’s Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker. The datacenter segment (covering high-speed switching infrastructure in hyperscale, service provider, and enterprise datacenters) grew 64.5% YoY to $12.3B, driven by continued build-out of AI training and inferencing infrastructure.
NVIDIA maintained its position as the #1 branded vendor in datacenter Ethernet switching market share, now holding 20.4% of datacenter segment revenues.
800GbE ports accounted for 41.2% of datacenter revenues, reflecting the relentless push toward higher speeds to meet AI cluster bandwidth demands. The non-datacenter (campus and branch) segment grew 15.7% YoY to $6.6B, supported by enterprise hardware refresh activity and higher component pricing.
The worldwide Router market reached $4.5B in 2Q26, growing 22.8% year over year, according to IDC’s Quarterly Router Tracker. Both the service provider and enterprise segments posted double-digit growth, with the Americas leading the growth across all regions.
Ethernet switch market highlights
Datacenter segment: The datacenter portion of the Ethernet switch market grew 64.5% YoY in 2Q26 to reach $12.3B, according to IDC. The AI infrastructure build-out continues to be the primary growth driver, as hyperscalers, cloud providers, and large enterprises expand capacity for generative and agentic AI training and inferencing workloads. High-speed ports dominate spending: 800GbE switches accounted for 41.2% of datacenter segment revenues, while 200G/400G speeds represented 33.6% — together making up nearly 75% of datacenter Ethernet switch spending.
Campus/branch (non-datacenter) segment: Enterprise campus and branch Ethernet switch revenue grew 15.7% YoY in 2Q26 to $6.6B, per IDC. A broad hardware refresh cycle remains the structural driver, as organizations upgrade aging switching infrastructure to support the latest wireless standard, Wi-Fi 7, and AI-capable workloads. AI-powered network management and integrated security, including post-quantum cryptographic capabilities, are other key drivers in this segment. Higher average selling prices, driven by component cost pressures, continue to contribute to revenue growth above underlying unit volumes.
Regional performance: Ethernet Switch revenues grew across all geographies in 2Q26, according to IDC. The Americas led with 50.4% YoY growth to $10.2B, reflecting robust hyperscaler and enterprise AI investment in North America. EMEA grew 36.9% YoY to $4.1B, while Asia Pacific posted 35.3% growth to $4.6B.
Router market highlights: The total Router market reached $4.5B in 2Q26, growing 22.8% year over year, driven by investment in both service provider and enterprise network infrastructure, according to IDC’s Quarterly Router Tracker.
Service provider segment: The service provider segment — including communications service providers and cloud SPs — made up 74.2% of total router market revenues in 2Q26, reaching $3.3B with 23.8% YoY growth. Cloud and telecom infrastructure upgrades, including 5G backhaul expansion and core network modernization, remain the primary growth drivers.
Enterprise segment: The enterprise router market contributed $1.2B in 2Q26, growing 20.1% YoY, reflecting sustained investment in enterprise WAN connectivity, SD-WAN-enabled infrastructure modernization, and the expansion of AI-ready branch and edge network environments.
Regional performance: The Americas router market rose 31.1% YoY in 2Q26 to $1.9B, leading all regions. EMEA grew 20.9% YoY to $1.1B, while Asia Pacific posted 15.2% growth to $1.5B.
Vendor highlights
Cisco: Cisco’s total Ethernet switch revenues grew 36.2% YoY in 2Q26 to $5.4B, maintaining a 28.7% market share and retaining the #1 market share position in the overall Ethernet switch market, per IDC. In the datacenter segment, Cisco generated $2.2B (18.2% share), growing strongly with AI networking demand. Cisco’s total router revenue grew 31.6% YoY to $1.6B, with a 34.7% share of the global router market.
NVIDIA: NVIDIA’s Ethernet switch revenues — entirely from the datacenter segment — surged 181.1% YoY to $2.5B in 2Q26, giving it a 20.4% share of the datacenter Ethernet switch segment, according to IDC. NVIDIA maintained its position as the #1 branded vendor by revenue in datacenter Ethernet switching. The Spectrum-X platform — an end-to-end AI networking solution integrating Spectrum Ethernet switches with BlueField DPUs and NVIDIA LinkX cables, purpose-built for large-scale GPU clusters — continues to win hyperscaler and AI-native cloud provider deployments at scale.
Arista Networks: Arista’s revenues grew 37.6% YoY in 2Q26 to $2.5B, per IDC, with the company holding a 13.4% share of the total Ethernet switch market and 18.7% in the datacenter segment. With approximately 90.9% of revenue from the datacenter segment, Arista continues to maintain a strong position in 400G and 800G deployments among hyperscale and cloud customers.
Huawei: Huawei’s total Ethernet switch revenue grew 28.6% YoY in 2Q26 to $1.5B, with an 8.2% market share, per IDC. Huawei’s Router revenue grew 21.6% YoY in 2Q26 to $1.3B, giving the company a 29.9% share of the global router market — underscoring continued strength in service provider networking, particularly in China and select emerging markets.
HPE: HPE’s total Ethernet switch revenue grew 1.6% YoY in 2Q26, reaching a 6.1% market share, per IDC. HPE revenues include Juniper Networks, following the July 2025 acquisition. The company’s campus and branch portfolio, which represents approximately 70.1% of its Ethernet switch business, continues to benefit from the enterprise hardware refresh cycle. HPE’s router revenues grew 25.3% YoY to $483M in 2Q26, representing a 10.7% market share.
Worldwide Top Ethernet Switch Companies
Market dynamics
AI infrastructure fuels another quarter of record datacenter spending: For the second consecutive quarter, AI infrastructure investment drove Ethernet switch market growth above 40% YoY. Hyperscalers and AI-native cloud providers are accelerating the deployment of GPU-dense AI factories, requiring ultra-low-latency, high-bandwidth switching fabric capable of sustaining the massive east-west traffic flows generated by distributed training workloads. The share of 800G ports in datacenter Ethernet switch revenues rose to 41.2% in 2Q26, up from 35.9% in 1Q26, reflecting a clear and accelerating shift toward next-generation port speeds.
Enterprise refresh and pricing dynamics sustain non-datacenter growth: Non-datacenter Ethernet switch revenue grew 15.7% YoY in 2Q26, sustained by a multi-year enterprise hardware refresh wave and persistent component-price inflation. Organizations are upgrading campus and branch switching infrastructure to support newer wireless standards, AI-capable applications, and modern digital workloads. IDC notes that supply cost pressures — particularly in memory components — continue to inflate revenue growth above underlying unit shipment trends, a dynamic that is expected to persist.
Router market accelerates on SP and enterprise investment: The router market’s 22.8% YoY growth in 2Q26 reflects broad investment across both segments. Service providers are investing in network infrastructure to support 5G expansion, cloud interconnect, and edge deployments. Enterprise demand reflects ongoing WAN modernization, SD-WAN adoption, and the expansion of AI-ready branch and edge environments. The Americas accounted for 41.9% of global router revenues in 2Q26, growing 31.1% YoY — the fastest regional growth rate — driven by strong North American SP and enterprise network investment.
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AI cluster buildouts are now the single biggest driver of datacenter network spend, and the rapid move to 800GbE shows hyperscalers optimizing for bandwidth and latency more than ever before. As GPU clusters keep scaling, switching fabric and related networking has become one of the fastest-moving and most critical layers of AI infrastructure investment.
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The campus refresh cycle is accelerating as organizations modernize switching infrastructure to support Wi-Fi 7, AI workloads, and higher-speed connectivity. The convergence of networking and security—including post-quantum cryptography and rapid AI-driven threat patching—is reshaping infrastructure requirements and driving sustained upgrade momentum through 2026.
Why it matters
The 2Q26 results confirm that AI infrastructure demand is the defining force in the datacenter networking market, with sustained implications for vendor strategy, technology architecture, and enterprise procurement. The accelerating shift toward 800G and beyond is compressing product cycles and raising the stakes for vendors to maintain technology leadership. Outside the datacenter, enterprise networking teams face a critical decision point: legacy campus and branch infrastructure must be modernized to support AI-capable applications, next-generation wireless, and the increasing data throughput demands of digital operations. For enterprise buyers and IT leaders, the 2Q26 data underscores the urgency of aligning networking refresh cycles with a multi-year AI buildout that is accelerating, not plateauing.
Outlook
IDC expects the Ethernet switch market to continue posting strong year-over-year growth through 2026, driven by ongoing AI infrastructure investment in the datacenter and sustained enterprise refresh demand in the campus and branch segments. The pace of 800G adoption is expected to accelerate further, and early demand signals for 1.6T ports are beginning to emerge as hyperscalers plan next-generation AI cluster architectures. In the router market, service provider investment in 5G core and backhaul infrastructure, combined with enterprise WAN modernization, is expected to sustain double-digit growth. IDC will continue to track these dynamics through its quarterly tracker programs.
For more information on IDC’s Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker and Quarterly Router Tracker, please visit idc.com or contact your IDC account representative.