Strategic Intelligence: IT Infrastructure Sector Scorecard Q3 2025 Update

This quarter saw a change at the top of the analyst’s thematic ranking for the IT infrastructure sector, as long-time leader Cisco dropped two places to third. Microsoft climbed to first in Q3 2025 from third place in the previous quarter, with Alphabet holding steady in second place.

Key Highlights

• Cisco’s reign came to an end following a reduction in its thematic score for cybersecurity. The company’s score of 4 out of 5 was reduced to 3 after it disclosed in September 2025 that zero-day vulnerabilities in its operating systems had made its networking devices vulnerable to denial of service (DoS) attacks. Microsoft and Alphabet both have scores of 4 for the cybersecurity theme.
• Elsewhere in the thematic ranking, Nvidia climbed to fourth place from eighth in the previous quarter, thanks largely to the increased weighting given to the data centers theme in the thematic screen. The weighting, which was 5% in Q2 2025, is now 15%, reflecting the increased importance of this theme. This has benefited Nvidia, which has a score of 5 for this theme, reflecting the analyst’s view that its activity in this theme will significantly improve its future performance. Other companies with scores of 5 for the data centers theme include Microsoft, Alphabet, Cisco, IBM, HPE, and Amazon.

Scope

• This sector scorecard provides a top-down, comprehensive outlook for the key players in the IT infrastructure sector over the next two years, based on the key themes set to transform their industry landscape.

Reasons to Buy

• Companies that invest in the right themes become success stories. Those that miss the important themes in their industry end up as failures.
• The analyst's thematic research ecosystem is a single, integrated global research platform that provides an easy-to-use framework for tracking all themes across all companies in all sectors. It has a proven track record of identifying the important themes early, enabling companies to make the right investments ahead of the competition and secure that all-important competitive advantage.
• The analyst has developed a unique thematic methodology for ranking all major companies in all major sectors based on their relative strength in the big themes that are impacting their industries.
• First, we identify the top 10 themes transforming a sector across four categories (tech, macro, industry, and ESG). We also rank themes in order of priority by examining activity levels across 200 million alternative data signals, including patents, jobs, deals, filings, social media, and news.
• Second, we research each theme in detail, examining the value chain, key players, and trends. Additionally, we examine the impact of each theme across the 20 industries we cover. Our 200 million signals help identify the leading adopters of a theme in each sector.
• Finally, using our sector scorecards, we rank the companies most likely to succeed in a sector over the next five years.