Data Center Cables Market to Reach $27.29 Billion by 2035, DC Market Insights Finds

DC Market Insights estimates the global data center cables market at $10.65 billion in 2025 and projects $27.29 billion by 2035, a 9.87% CAGR. AI-oriented data halls had about $1.07 million of cabling content per MW in 2025 versus $0.43 million for conventional halls; fiber accounted for 47.6% of market revenue and is forecast to grow at a 12.14% CAGR through 2035. The study cites capacity expansion and multiyear supply agreements as growth drivers, including Corning and Meta's agreement worth up to $6 billion and Prysmian's agreement with Molex worth up to €5.5 billion.

Analysis

The investable signal is not the market forecast itself—third-party projections are not evidence of supplier pricing power—but that high-speed connectivity is becoming an earlier, qualification-heavy procurement decision. This favors scaled suppliers with proven systems and capacity; it does not guarantee that higher cable content per AI build converts into higher margins. Long-term contracts can improve utilization and visibility while also concentrating customer power and locking suppliers into pricing before input costs and product mix are known.

GLW has the clearest direct read-through from its disclosed Meta agreement, but that commitment is already public and should not be treated as incremental demand. APH offers broader connectivity exposure, with integration and execution risk following its large acquisition; verify organic growth, margins, and cash conversion rather than crediting deal size alone. PRY’s capacity investment can capture demand if deployment holds, but creates downside operating leverage if campus schedules slip. Over 6–18 months, a further shift toward optical links may benefit fiber and connectivity systems; architecture changes, more efficient designs, or delayed AI capacity could weaken volume assumptions. Copper remains relevant for shorter links, so substitution is not one-way.

Contrarian point: a constrained cable supply chain may be less durable than the report implies. Hyperscalers can dual-source, standardize designs, and negotiate away scarcity rents. Near-term, the report itself is unlikely to be a catalyst; the useful confirmation is supplier order growth and margin conversion. Falsify the bullish view if GLW or APH reports weakening data-center orders, falling connectivity margins, or guidance reductions despite continued AI infrastructure spending.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Watchlist / staged long GLW rather than chasing the report: add only if subsequent results confirm optical demand in orders and margin conversion. The upside case is sustained hyperscaler procurement and higher-value fiber systems; the downside is that the agreement secures volume without attractive economics. Reassess on order or guidance deterioration.
• Keep APH as a selective exposure, not a pure-play proxy: require evidence that acquired connectivity operations integrate without dilution to organic growth, margins, or cash conversion before adding. Weak integration metrics would invalidate the relative-quality thesis.
• Treat PRY’s announced capacity expansion as a conditional beneficiary, not an automatic long: monitor utilization, pricing, and project timing against capex. Delays in data-center buildouts or weaker fiber pricing would make the added capacity a source of downside leverage.
• No broad sector trade from this report alone. Track hyperscaler capex and supplier order commentary over the next 1–3 months; the market-sizing forecast is long-dated and its assumptions are not independently verified.