Worldwide data center capex increased 43 percent in 2Q 2025, with broad-based growth across servers, networking, and physical infrastructure, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group.
“Accelerated server spending rose 76 percent, driven by the ramp of NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra platforms across US hyperscalers, neo-cloud providers, and sovereign AI projects. Custom accelerators from Google and Amazon also added to the momentum,” said Baron Fung, Sr. Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “Beyond AI, the Top 4 US cloud service providers—Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft—expanded general-purpose compute capacity, deploying the latest CPUs from Intel and AMD, along with custom ARM CPUs, to improve server consolidation and efficiency. Risks remain for the rest of the year, including macroeconomic headwinds in the enterprise market and reduced US federal IT budgets. These factors may prompt enterprises to shift workloads to public clouds in order to preserve capital in the near term,” explained Fung.
Additional highlights from the 2Q 2025 Data Center IT Capex Quarterly Report:
- Worldwide data center capex is projected to rise more than 30 percent in 2025, as hyperscalers raise guidance to support AI buildouts, platform refreshes, and increased general-purpose compute demand.
- Data center capex growth is expected to moderate in 2026 for both hyperscalers and the broader market. Long-term growth prospects, however, remain strong.
- Dell overtook Supermicro to lead accelerated server revenue among OEMs, supported by large-scale shipments of NVIDIA Blackwell platforms. White box vendors captured more than 60 percent of the server market, driven by hyperscaler AI deployments and a surge in general-purpose server shipments.