At the Canalys Forums in Barcelona, two leading analysts publicly disagreed over whether channel partners should prioritise hardware and datacentre buildouts or focus on AI services.
Canalys Forums showdown: hardware push vs services
Canapii co-founder and Informa Fellow Steve Brazier urged partners to concentrate on hardware, arguing the immediate AI money for the channel lies in building datacentres and stocking semiconductor‑based products. “Those of you involved in buying PCs, servers, or any other products with semi-conductors in, stock up your warehouse now,” he said, adding that “the value of those products will increase over the next 12 months. You’ll make a lot of money if your warehouses are filled – these shortages are baked in because the datacentre is baked in.”
Brazier warned that partners positioning themselves as AI consultants who “go into customers and tell them what to do with AI” face a bleak outlook. “We think you’ll fail; most of you will fail,” he said. He suggested the opportunity for partners lies instead in “AI routing”, such as helping customers budget, secure their data and choose the right model.
A few minutes later Omdia Chief Analyst Jay McBain, who said “For the first time in 19 years, I’m going to disagree with the opening keynote,” challenged Brazier’s advice. McBain noted geopolitical risks, price inflation, supply challenges and the threat of tariffs, and argued that while hardware can be more profitable today, it is a point‑in‑time opportunity. “I don’t think it’s a five-year strategy to load up a warehouse with hardware… Yes, you can make more money [on hardware] today. It’s a point-in-time opportunity, but I wouldn’t be making a three- to five-year plan about going back to reselling PCs,” he said.
Some partners at the event seized the exchange as evidence of market uncertainty. “For me, this was just pointing out that no one really knows, even the researchers. And we’re all just trying to figure it out together,” said Tanaz Gould, CRO at Trustmarque Ultima.
Services growth and the channel outlook
McBain, teeing up presentations from Omdia colleagues Matthew Ball and Robin Ody, said the cybersecurity services sector is growing at 12% and managed services at 10%. He added that AI‑related services will record the fastest growth, “swelling at a CAGR of 32.5% to hit $347bn by 2031.”
Omdia Chief Analyst Alastair Edwards said the balance of power, which has shifted from the channel to vendors over the past 12 months, is beginning to shift back towards partners. He highlighted inflection points such as the move towards sovereignty and the AI infrastructure boom as areas that will depend heavily on partners. “We’ve seen the balance of power shifting over the last 12 months from the channel ecosystem to the vendor world, and vendors have been putting more stringent terms [when it comes to] pricing and quotation,” Edwards said. “But we actually see this balance starting to shift back towards the channel.”
Edwards described the technology industry as a “rocket ship at the moment” but warned not all partners will keep pace with the market, which he said is set to record 35% growth in 2026. He emphasised the growing role of distributors in creating availability and supply and in financing deals, noting that in many cases deal sizes exceed the financial capabilities of average resellers. Edwards predicted up to 30% of the existing partner base will “disappear” by 2030 because they cannot transform quickly enough, and urged partners to start preparing now: “My recommendation to all of you is to start thinking today about how you can prepare for this opportunity.”
