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CRN’s 2025 AI 100 data center and edge category names 25 companies working across AI chips, servers, storage, networking, security, PCs, and edge computing. It is an editorial selection—not a ranked comparison, technical certification, or guarantee that a company’s products outperform competitors.
What is the CRN 2025 AI 100 data center and edge list?
CRN published its 2025 list on April 8, 2025. Its 25 selections span established infrastructure and semiconductor vendors as well as specialist companies. The category covers technology for data centers, PCs, and edge deployments, rather than one product type or a single kind of AI workload.
“Hottest” is CRN’s editorial wording. The list does not establish a winner, rank the companies, or provide a formal scoring method. CRN’s profiles describe each company’s AI-related products and strategy; they are not independent product evaluations.
Which companies are on CRN’s 2025 AI 100 data center and edge list?
These summaries reflect the emphasis of CRN’s 2025 profiles, not independent assessments of product performance.
| Company | CRN’s 2025 profile emphasis |
|---|---|
| Acer | AI laptops and PCs with dedicated AI processing hardware. |
| AMD | AI-focused server processors, graphics cards, and generative-AI accelerators. CRN reported that AMD’s AI chip segment generated more than $5 billion in 2024. It also described MI350 GPU shipments as planned for mid-2025; that was a plan reported at the time, not confirmation of present delivery status. |
| Cisco Systems | Bringing Splunk AI and observability capabilities into networking and security portfolios. |
| Cohesity | An AI-enabled data resilience and security cloud platform. |
| DDN | Data intelligence and storage platforms for AI workloads. |
| Dell Technologies | AI devices from desktop systems to data-center products, including AI servers. CRN reported Dell’s expectation of $15 billion in AI server sales “this year,” meaning 2025 in the article published that April. |
| Extreme Networks | Cloud networking and the Extreme Platform ONE network-management experience. |
| F5 | Application delivery, multi-cloud networking, and API security, including BIG-IP, distributed cloud services, and Nginx. |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise | AI infrastructure and software, including HPE Private Cloud AI and liquid cooling. |
| Hitachi Vantara | AI-optimized data centers, infrastructure for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and small language models, and distributed data-center models. |
| HP Inc. | AI PCs, business laptops, mobile workstations, and small-form-factor desktops. |
| Intel | AI hardware and development tools for cloud, data-center, edge, and commercial-PC use. |
| Juniper Networks | Mist AI and an AI-native networking platform for network operations. CRN said the platform drew on seven years of insight when it launched in 2024. |
| Lenovo | AI products and platforms across PCs, workstations, edge, and data-center infrastructure. CRN also mentioned a plan, at the time, to acquire Infinidat in 2025. |
| NetApp | Enterprise data management for AI and AI-as-a-Service partnerships. |
| Nutanix | Enterprise AI-ready infrastructure for building AI applications and running selected models. |
| Nvidia | Grace CPUs, Hopper GPUs, BlueField DPUs, and partnerships around AI-ready data centers. |
| Qualcomm | Snapdragon X processors and AI and edge-IoT activity, including its Edge Impulse acquisition. |
| Pure Storage | The Portworx Kubernetes platform and FlashBlade high-performance storage for AI environments. |
| Scale Computing | AI edge-computing offerings and enterprise sales through the channel. |
| Supermicro | Nvidia GPU-based AI systems and liquid-cooled and air-cooled architectures. |
| Vast Data | High-performance storage, database, and containerized compute platforms for AI workloads. |
| Veeam Software | Data-protection software and a partnership involving Microsoft AI services. |
| Weka | AI data-platform software. CRN reported a $1.6 billion valuation and $100 million in annual recurring revenue at the end of 2024, as well as deployments at 12 Fortune 50 companies. |
| Zebra Technologies | Zebra Companion AI agents and mobile-computing AI for frontline operations. |
How do the companies differ by role?
The roster is easier to interpret by the job a buyer needs done than as a list of direct substitutes. These groupings are an editorial way to read CRN’s profiles, not CRN’s scoring categories; several companies span more than one layer.
| Layer or job | Examples from the 2025 list | What to evaluate |
|---|---|---|
| Compute and AI hardware | AMD, Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Supermicro | Whether the requirement is a processor, accelerator, complete AI system, or compute for a PC, edge site, or data center; also consider workload and software ecosystem. |
| Networking and application connectivity | Cisco Systems, Extreme Networks, F5, Juniper Networks | Whether the priority is network operations, application delivery, multi-cloud connectivity, API security, or observability. |
| Storage, data platforms, and resilience | Cohesity, DDN, NetApp, Pure Storage, Vast Data, Veeam Software, Weka | Whether the need centers on data preparation and access, high-performance storage, Kubernetes environments, protection, or resilience. |
| Integrated infrastructure and deployment | Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara, Lenovo, Nutanix | Whether the organization needs systems spanning servers, private infrastructure, AI software, or distributed data-center deployments. |
| PCs and edge operations | Acer, HP Inc., Scale Computing, Zebra Technologies | Whether AI should run on a personal computer or workstation, at an edge site, or on mobile devices used in frontline work. |
What did CRN report about AI spending and company figures?
The following figures are reported claims or estimates, not independently verified results in CRN’s list. Forecasts and expectations retain the time frame CRN gave them.
- Worldwide spending: CRN attributed to IDC an expectation of more than $749 billion by 2028 for worldwide spending on technologies supporting AI.
- Enterprise AI spending: CRN said IDC projected that enterprises embedding AI in core business operations would account for 67 percent of projected $227 billion in AI spending in 2025. This is an IDC estimate as reported by CRN, not a direct review of IDC’s underlying report.
- AMD: CRN reported more than $5 billion in revenue for AMD’s AI chip segment in 2024.
- Dell: CRN reported Dell’s expectation of $15 billion in AI server sales “this year” in its April 2025 article. The reference was to 2025, not the current year.
- Weka: CRN reported a $1.6 billion valuation and $100 million in annual recurring revenue at the end of 2024, plus deployments at 12 Fortune 50 companies. These are figures reported by CRN, not independent verification of the company’s finances or customer relationships.
CRN’s 2025 profile also said Juniper’s AI-Native Networking Platform drew on seven years of insight at its 2024 launch. That is CRN’s description of the platform’s development, not a comparative measure of its performance.
How has the AI 100 category changed since 2025?
CRN’s 2025 AI 100 overview divided its selections among five categories: cloud computing, cybersecurity, data center and edge computing, data and analytics, and software. In CRN’s separate 2026 AI 100, the related category is called “infrastructure and edge computing.” CRN’s 2026 coverage describes products ranging from AI workstations and PCs to rack-scale servers, storage, networking, and edge compute.
That newer category shows that CRN’s labels and selections change by edition; it should not be read as a direct re-ranking of the 2025 roster. For broader market context, CRN’s 2026 article reported Gartner estimates of $2.53 trillion in worldwide spending in 2026 and $1.37 trillion on AI infrastructure that year—the latter described as more than 54 percent of total AI spending. Those are Gartner estimates as reported in CRN’s 2026 article, not figures from the 2025 list.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should buyers take from the list?
Use the roster as a map of vendors and technology layers, then assess products against the deployment you actually need. A practical comparison starts with these questions:
- What job must the system do? Distinguish model training, inference, data preparation, network operations, data protection, and frontline workflows.
- Where will it run? A PC or workstation, a distributed edge site, and a data center have different scale and deployment needs.
- Which layer is missing? Decide whether the gap is compute, networking, storage and data management, security and resilience, or a broader integrated system.
- How will it be acquired and supported? Consider direct enterprise procurement versus solution-provider or channel engagement; CRN’s coverage mentions channel activity for some vendors but does not establish current public referral or affiliate programs.
The list can help identify candidates, but it does not establish product fit, availability, current pricing, or suitability for a particular workload. Those questions require current product and deployment details beyond CRN’s editorial selections.
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