North America Structured Cabling Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends and Forecast (2026 - 2031)

North America Structured Cabling Market Trends and Insights

Growing Expansion of Hyperscale Data Centers

Hyperscale operators continue to commission gigawatt-scale campuses, adding 7.8 gigawatts of power under construction across the Americas by mid-2025.^{[1]JLL, “Data Center Outlook Mid-Year 2025,” jll.com} Amazon’s USD 15 billion Indiana complex and Microsoft’s USD 4 billion Wisconsin build illustrate the capital intensity behind every new megawatt, each pulling 3-5 kilometers of fiber trunk and 10-15 kilometers of copper cabling for top-of-rack links. The United States hosts 54% of global hyperscale capacity, anchoring regional cable demand. TIA-942-B certification, which prescribes dual pathways and N+1 cable management, elevates per-square-foot spending yet future-proofs plants for 800-gigabit upgrades. AI-optimized designs, such as the USD 7 billion OpenAI-Oracle facility in Michigan, require low-latency spine-leaf topologies that further increase fiber density.

Migration to Higher Bandwidth Category Cables

Category 6A accounted for 41% of United States copper sales in 2025, a four-point gain over 2023, as enterprises targeted 10-gigabit Ethernet to avoid the 30-meter ceiling of Category 8.^{[2]Panduit, “Copper Cabling Systems and Solutions,” panduit.com} The IEEE 802.3df roadmap toward 800-gigabit Ethernet accelerates single-mode adoption in data-center spines, yet copper remains entrenched in horizontals due to RJ45 familiarity and mechanical durability. Anticipated ANSI/TIA-568 updates may introduce Category 6B, stretching 10-gigabit reach to 150 meters and extending copper’s relevance in campus backbones. Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 upgrades, which need 2.5-gigabit uplinks, are prompting retrofits of legacy Category 5e drops in hospitality and education, converting dormant runs into revenue opportunities. These factors collectively add 1.5 percentage points to the regional CAGR.

Increasing Fiber-To-The-Home and 5G Backhaul Deployments

AT&T’s target of 50 million fiber-to-premises passings by 2029 implies an annual drawdown of 1.5 million fiber-kilometers.^{[3]AT&T, “AT&T Fiber Expansion Plans,” att.com} The FCC’s 30-day pole-attachment mandate slashed a prior 90-day window, enabling faster aerial drops in underserved tracts. OECD figures show North American 5G subscriptions rising 28% year over year, and each macro cell consumes 2-4 fibers for fronthaul and midhaul links. BEAD allocations reinforce single-mode architectures in rural corridors where gigabit-ready symmetrical speeds are obligatory. While labor accounts for most of last-mile costs, automation in glass preform pulling is driving per-kilometer fiber prices down by 5% annually, boosting payback economics.

Rising Adoption of Power over Ethernet for Smart Building Applications

IEEE 802.3bt permits 90-watt delivery over Category 6A, eliminating the need for separate electrical runs for LED lighting, cameras, and digital signage. Deloitte’s 2025 survey found that 62% of real estate owners are budgeting PoE deployments within 2 years, forecasting total-cost-of-ownership savings of nearly 30%. NREL recorded 15% reductions in building energy use when luminaires were controlled centrally via PoE switches. Integrators now bundle cabling, switching, and analytics platforms, turning one-time fit-outs into recurring monitoring revenue. Category 6A’s low DC resistance underpins this momentum, cementing copper as the medium of choice for PoE lighting retrofits.

Rising Demand for High-Performance Wireless Solutions

Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 close the throughput gap between wired and wireless networks, prompting some enterprises to scale back on horizontal cable counts in favor of dense access-point grids. Although each AP still requires dual Category 6A uplinks for redundancy, the switch from 48-port to 24-port topologies cuts total port density, trimming cable volumes by up to 40%. FCC authorization of the 6 GHz band in 2024 accelerated refresh cycles, and Deloitte expects 40% of pre-2023 wireless estates to be swapped by 2027. While structured cabling retains an anchor role for backhaul, the flexibility and lower upfront cost of wireless-first layouts subtract 0.7 percentage points from forecast CAGR.

Complex and Costly Installation in Brownfield Retrofits

Occupied buildings drive labor premiums due to asbestos abatement, night-shift work, and congested pathways that lack TIA-569-compliant trays. Fire-stop penetrations add USD 50-150 per floor transition, and Category 6A’s larger diameter worsens fill ratios, doubling retrofit costs relative to greenfield installs. Coordination with legacy HVAC, security, and telephony networks adds 10-15% to project timelines. These challenges shave 0.5 percentage points off regional CAGR despite the necessity of retrofitting the aging urban stock.

Segment Analysis

By Product Type: Fiber Gains as Hyperscale Spine Demands Escalate

Copper solutions maintained 58.13% of the North America structured cabling market share in 2025, underscoring their dominance in horizontal links, where Power over Ethernet is paramount. However, fiber revenue is growing 9.37% annually as 400-gigabit and 800-gigabit spines demand single-mode reach beyond 100 meters. Copper margins are under pressure from USD 9,513-per-ton pricing in Q2 2025, which accelerated fiber substitution in rural programs sensitive to material swings. 

Multi-mode OM4 and OM5 sustain shorter inter-rack runs, yet operators are pre-cabling with hybrid trunks that accommodate coherent optics upgrades. Fiber’s falling cost curve, paired with lower attenuation, tilts long-haul economics decisively in its favor. Copper’s chief insulation remains its DC power capability, vital for PoE lighting and industrial Ethernet, where a single medium must carry both data and 90 watts of power.

By Cable Category: Category 6A Dominates While Category 8 Stalls

Category 6 cables accounted for 33.89% of revenue in 2025, yet Category 6A is growing at a 9.89% CAGR on the back of 10-gigabit standardization over 100 meters. United States sales share reached 41% in 2025, a clear pivot from Category 5e’s historical dominance. Category 8 remains confined below 5% share because its 30-meter ceiling restricts reach to switch-to-server hops, and its 40-60% price premium erodes return on investment versus fiber. 

Anticipated Category 6B specifications extending 10-gigabit to 150 meters could entrench copper even deeper into campus backbones, slowing any rebound for Category 7, whose non-RJ45 connectors and lack of TIA endorsement limit acceptance. BSRIA surveys showed Category 6A global installations rising 12% in 2024, the strongest among copper classes, as building owners avoid stranded investment scenarios experienced during the gigabit transition.

By Component: Connectivity Subsegment Accelerates on Modular Designs

Connectivity, including pre-terminated trunks and modular patch panels, is growing fastest at 9.93% CAGR, eclipsing the 42.76% share held by bulk cables in 2025. Factory-terminated MPO assemblies slash on-site labor by up to 50% and assure insertion-loss compliance, an attractive hedge against installer shortages. Patch panels are doubling density from 24 to 48 ports per rack unit and integrating slack storage pockets that streamline future moves. 

Chinese low-cost entrants are discounting copper keystone jacks by 30-40%, but Tier 3 and Tier 4 data center buyers remain wary of plating quality and cycle durability, insulating premium brands. Cable-management accessories evolve to support the wider bend radius of Category 6A and high-strand-count fiber, anchoring value among colocation landlords where every rack unit costs upward of USD 200 monthly.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Application: Data Centers Outpace LAN as Edge Computing Expands

Data centers accounted for 56.72% of 2025 revenue and will expand by 9.31% through 2031, overtaking slower LAN growth tied to office densification and wireless substitution. Each new megawatt of IT load pulls roughly 3-5 kilometers of fiber trunk plus 10-15 kilometers of copper horizontal cabling, magnifying structured cabling volumes in 96-megawatt edge campuses such as Edged’s Chicago site. 

LAN projects now optimize cost per port rather than redundancy, using single-path Category 6A and PoE switching, whereas Tier 3-4 data centers demand concurrent maintainability, effectively doubling cable paths. Edge deployments fragment buying power across secondary metros, empowering regional contractors but complicating volume contracts for manufacturers.

By End-User Industry: Healthcare Leads Growth as Telehealth Scales

Healthcare is expanding at 10.11% CAGR, the steepest among verticals, fueled by electronic health record mandates, imaging data proliferation, and telehealth suites that require gigabit uplinks at every bedside. Structured cabling density per patient bed now exceeds 20 drops, double legacy voice-grade counts. IT and telecom kept the largest slice at 28.73% in 2025, anchored by carrier-neutral colocation and cloud operator footprints. 

Manufacturing uses ruggedized Category 6A for EtherNet/IP control loops, although cable density per square foot lags that of data centers. Government demand is steady, governed by Buy America clauses and heightened cybersecurity standards that favor domestic suppliers. Commercial real estate accelerates PoE lighting and building-management overlays, blending IT and electrical scopes into a single low-voltage backbone.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Installation Type: New Construction Dominates as BEAD Funding Flows

New builds represented 63.91% of 2025 activity and are rising 9.33% annually, buoyed by hyperscale campuses and BEAD-funded rural fiber lines. Greenfield projects integrate ladder racks and conduit sleeves into the structural design stage, cutting labor by 30-40% compared to retrofits that address existing mechanical and electrical congestion. 

Pole-replacement and make-ready work in rural aerial builds cost USD 20,000-40,000 per mile, whereas rocky underground terrain can exceed USD 100,000, reinforcing the preference for new aerial strings. Retrofit costs can top USD 300 per drop after asbestos abatement, fire-stopping, and tray expansions, stunting growth in older high-rise stock despite the latent need for Category 6A upgrades.

Geography Analysis

The United States currently generates the bulk of revenue in the North America structured cabling market, driven by massive data center additions and state-administered BEAD grants that accelerate rural fiber deployment. Indiana, Wisconsin, and Virginia have emerged as hyperscale clusters, each featuring multibillion-dollar capex plans that translate into tens of thousands of fiber strand counts per campus. Pole-access compression to 30 days further catalyzes aerial builds, and AT&T’s 50-million-home pass goal brings sustained outside-plant cable orders.

Mexico’s share remains modest but is rising; Querétaro and Monterrey have become magnet cities for colocation operators seeking lower land rates and favorable power purchase agreements. Fiber backbones traversing these corridors unlock industrial connectivity for automotive and electronics manufacturing lines relocating from Asia, cementing a supply-chain-friendly latency ring to Texas border crossings.

Canada’s cabling volumes are concentrated in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, where Equinix and hyperscale tenants form the core client base. The Universal Broadband Fund is extending single-mode fiber to remote communities, although per-mile costs are triple those in the United States due to alpine and tundra terrain. Domestic sourcing rules under both BEAD and Canadian federal guidelines lengthen lead times but shield local manufacturers from offshore price competition.