Wi-Fi 7 Adoption and AI Agents Boost Demand for Multi-Gig Campus Ethernet Switches
Key Highlights
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The Campus Ethernet Switch market rebounded in 2025 but did not fully recover from the 19% revenue decline experienced in 2024.
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AI infrastructure buildouts are creating component shortages, driving higher costs and multiple rounds of price increases for campus switches.
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Demand for Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports continues to grow due to higher power needs of IoT devices and WLAN access points.
According to a newly released report from Dell’Oro Group, the Campus Ethernet Switch market rebounded in 2025. However, growth was insufficient to fully offset the 19% revenue decline recorded in 2024.
"Vendors are dodging campus switch component shortages that are appearing because of the massive AI build out, and this is driving up costs," said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell'Oro Group.
"There has already been one round of price increases, and we expect more to come. Prices are growing at a time when enterprises must refresh their older switching gear to ensure security compliance, and to prepare for the proliferation of AI agents. Customer demand, combined with the higher prices will drive market growth over the next five years," continued Morgan.
Additional highlights from the Campus Ethernet Switch 5-Year January 2026 Forecast Report include:
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Growing demand for Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports, fueled by higher power requirements for IoT devices and WLAN access points.
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For only the second time on record, spending on modular switches is expected to grow faster than the overall market in 2025.
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More advanced feature sets, including AIOps capabilities, are anticipated to increase vendor software revenues.
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Continued adoption of Wi-Fi 7 and the introduction of Wi-Fi 8 access points will sustain demand for multi-gigabit ports.
About the Report
The Dell'Oro Group Campus Ethernet Switch 5-Year Forecast Report offers a complete overview of Ethernet switches built and optimized for deployment outside the data center, to connect users and things to the Local Area Networks. The report contains tables covering manufacturers' revenue, average selling prices, and port/unit shipments by speed (100 Mbps, 1/2.5/5/10/25/40/50/100/200/400 Gbps Ethernet), plus regional breakouts.
Source: Dell'Oro Group
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