BSRIA’s most recent report on the worldwide structured cabling market reveals some staggering numbers for 2025, driven by AI data center projects. The report sheds light on consumption habits in different regions of the world, and also delivers detail on the enterprise/LAN structured cabling market’s growth and health.
The biggest news from BSRIA’s World Structured Cabling 2026 report is that the global market grew 21% in 2025, to $9.08 billion, following 11% growth in 2024. The data center segment was the main driver, increasing by 54% last year “as AI infrastructure investment continues to push cabling demand higher,” BSRIA pointed out. Data centers now account for more than 41% of all cabling installed.
The United States market’s meteoric 44% year-over-year growth accounted for 89% of 2025’s global value increase. The U.S. holds 69% of the global data center cabling market, and is 14 times the size of second-place China’s market.
Other statistics and dynamics that BSRIA points out shed light on data center cabling consumption around the world.
- Large-scale (hyperscale) projects dominate; they are high in value and concentrated among a handful of suppliers. Suppliers that deal directly with hyperscalers have been the primary beneficiaries of the U.S. data center revenue increase.
- Hyperscales dominated but all data center segments grew.
- Some of the dollars credited to the U.S. actually are products shipped from that country to other regions of the world. Even with that difference accounted for, the gap in consumption between the U.S. and the rest of the world widened in 2025.
- In China, direct attach cables account for 90 to 95% of connections in AI data centers. These cabling types are chosen for their lower cost and shorter lead times.
- Denmark, Germany, India, Spain, and Switzerland also recorded strong market growth in 2025.
The LAN Cabling Workhorse
Lone Hansen, BSRIA’s manager for IT cabling, BACS and associated technologies, commented, “The shape of this market has changed in a short space of time. Data centers are where most of the value growth is, and the U.S. is pulling further ahead because of investment in AI infrastructure across all data center segments. The LAN side of the market is doing the essential work of connecting offices, powering desks, supporting wireless LAN and keeping security systems running, and that demand is steady rather than spectacular.”
In this case, steady means 5% growth worldwide and 9% in the Americas in 2025, as markets everywhere recovered from supply chain disruptions that followed Covid-19. BSRIA observed, “The LAN is the backbone of most commercial buildings [and] regional LAN performance varied. The Americas hold almost half (45%) of the LAN market and grew 9% in 2025, driven by the U.S. and Canada. Asia Pacific contracted by 1.9%, held back by a 7% decline in China linked to a 17% fall in non-residential construction that hit offices and manufacturing in particular. India and Southeast Asia performed well against that regional drag.”
Commenting on the global LAN market, Hansen added, “Copper has held up better than people expected. LAN cabling is essential for connectivity and power to desks, WiFi and security systems, and Cat 6A has now overtaken Cat 6 in global sales.”
BSRIA also noted the following data points about the global LAN cabling market.
- Materials cost rose in the second half of 2025, which pushed prices higher and “has shifted the commercial conversation as much as the technical one,” according to Hansen.
- The 5% global growth in 2025 followed 2% growth in 2024.
BSRIA’s examination of the global structured cabling market is expansive. In addition to a world overview report, BSRIA offers individual reports on each of the following 16 countries.
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Columbia
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- India
- Mexico
- Saudi Arabia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
You can find more information and order any of the reports here.
