San Francisco – October 31, 2026 -- Merchant-built server-class Ethernet NIC revenue rose 40% year-over-year in calendar Q2 2024, reaching an annualized run-rate close to $5 billion, according to Crehan Research. The figures cover adapters, controllers and LOMs.

SmartNICs grow over 50% while mainstream NICs gain over 30%

Foundational/Performance Ethernet NIC revenue increased more than 30% year-over-year. DPU/IPU Ethernet SmartNIC revenue grew more than 50%. Crehan attributes the growth largely to numerous concurrent Ethernet speed and technology upgrades.