Dell'Oro Group finds Ethernet over two-thirds of 3Q switch sales

Dell'Oro Group published its 3Q 2025 Data Center Switch – Artificial Intelligence (AI) Back-end Networks report and found that Ethernet accounted for more than two-thirds of data center switch sales in AI back-end networks for the quarter and across the first three quarters of the year, up from less than half in the same period a year earlier.

The firm noted it provides market information for the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries and reported that Ethernet sales grew faster than InfiniBand during the period, citing demand from large AI cluster builders named in the report, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle and Explainable AI (XAI).

The report provided vendor- and market-level data on switches used to connect accelerated servers in AI back-end networks. It contained manufacturers' revenue, ports shipped, and average selling prices for modular and fixed managed and unmanaged Ethernet switches across speeds from ≤100 Gbps to ≥3.2 Tbps, and it included revenue splits by region and by customer segments such as the Top 4 US Cloud providers, the Top 3 China Cloud providers, and large enterprises.

Among the report highlights, Accton, Arista, and Cisco captured the highest share in the Ethernet segment. The report also stated that Celestica and NVIDIA together held nearly 50 percent of the Ethernet segment and that 800 Gbps switches comprised the vast majority of Ethernet shipments and revenues in AI back-end networks during the quarter.

“The rapid ramp of NVIDIA's latest Blackwell Ultra platform drove a surge in InfiniBand switch sales which posted strong growth for the second consecutive quarter,” “Nonetheless, in line with our expectations, growth in Ethernet sales continues to outpace that of InfiniBand, propelled by strong demand from large AI cluster builders, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI and others,” said Sameh Boujelbene, Vice President at Dell'Oro Group.