311 Institute report · September 2026
The State of Global ICT Infrastructure
How big is the ICT infrastructure market, and what really limits it?
An independent, outside-in read of the physical layer of the digital economy. Sized one domain at a time, across 120 countries, and given as ranges with a confidence grade.
The main finding
It is not one market. It is three.
The easy read is that this is an AI data-centre story with one big headline number. In fact it is three markets: computing hardware, connectivity, and the specialist trade that installs and maintains both.
Most published figures combine all three, which overstates the addressable segment by 3 to 20 times. Break the numbers down and the one layer that cannot be substituted is the certified workforce that does the installation work.
Four things to know
Demand is close to unlimited. Power, permits and people set the pace.
Most errors come from what gets counted.
The big gaps between published market figures come from scope, not forecasting. Sizing each domain separately removes the double-counting.
Power and permits cap the build, not demand.
Grid capacity prices in PJM rose about eleven-fold in two years, and flagship metros now quote grid connection for 2037 to 2038.
Nothing gets built without the certified installer.
You can choose not to build. But every project that goes ahead needs certified trades, and they are scarce in every region.
Where to expand follows its own logic.
The US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Ireland open almost automatically. The small states where subsea cables land are cheap footholds into whole regions.
How the market was sized
The whole cake first, then the slices.
Eleven domains are sized globally, then split across 120 countries using three ICT-native drivers, not the size of each economy. Every slice adds back to the whole.
Every headline figure comes with a range and a confidence grade, and the swing factors behind the range are named.
Each source is marked primary, corroborated, single-source, unverified or foresight, so you can see how much weight each number can bear.
Inside the report
Ten chapters, from the forces to the outlook.
Five parts take you from what drives the build, through where the money goes and who does the work, to the limits and scenarios that shape the market to 2035.
The forces reshaping ICT
Five macro forces and the three limits they create.
Where the market spends
Eleven domains, sized separately to avoid double-counting.
The global atlas of demand
120 markets ranked on three ICT-native drivers.
The connectivity gateways
The small states where subsea cables come ashore.
Converging disciplines
Four zones where separate trades are fusing.
Profit pools and disruption
Where the lasting margin sits, and what could bypass it.
The workforce
Labour, certification and the career chain.
Standards and regulation
The rules that set demand floors.
Power and permitting
The limits that decide where capacity lands.
The outlook to 2035
Technology shifts and three scenarios.
Bring the report to your organisation
Book Matthew Griffin to explain what this means for you.
Matthew will turn the findings into a clear session about your markets, your build plans and your workforce, then help your leaders decide what to do next.
Keynote
Give leaders, teams or event audiences a clear view of where the ICT build is heading and what limits it.
Executive briefing
Give your board a private session on your markets, your exposure and the decisions to take now.
Leadership workshop
Turn the report into a market-entry and workforce plan for your organisation.
Every session is built around your audience and what they need to know.
Tell us who the session is for and what you want it to achieve. We will suggest the right format.
Questions
About the report
How big is the global ICT infrastructure market?+
About $735bn in 2026, within a range of $560bn to $960bn, growing to roughly $1.45 trillion by 2035 at about 8% a year. This excludes a further $175bn of mobile-network equipment.
What limits how much gets built?+
Power, permits and people, not demand. Grid connections in flagship metros are now quoted for 2037 to 2038, and certified installers are scarce in every region.
Why do published market figures differ so much?+
Most combine three separate markets: computing hardware, connectivity and the specialist trade that installs both. That overstates the addressable segment by 3 to 20 times.
Can Matthew present the findings?+
Yes. The research can be turned into a keynote, board briefing or workshop for your markets and your build plans.
See the full picture.
Download the complete 104-page report, The State of Global ICT Infrastructure.
Download the report