High-end router market sees Q1 rebound

The high-end router market saw a comeback in the first quarter of 2025, posting its first positive year-over-year growth rate.

According to a new Dell’Oro Group report, the results of the most prominent routing vendors indicate that the market digestion phase, which began in the third quarter of 2023 due to excess customer inventory of systems and deteriorating macroeconomic conditions, has come to an end.

Jimmy Yu, VP at Dell’Oro, said that “we estimate that the High End Router market grew 10% Y/Y in the quarter, with growth across all segments, particularly in service provider Core and Edge Routers.

He added that “every major region contributed to the strong revenue increase this quarter.”

Juniper and Nokia also performed well, with revenue growth of 16% and 14%, respectively.

Dell’Oro noted that among the top four vendors, only Cisco saw its first quarter 2025 revenue decline year-over-year. However, Cisco did grow its Core Router revenue both year-over-year (Y/Y and quarter-over-quarter (Q/Q), driven by the success of selling its routed optical networking (RON) solution with 400 Gbps ZR/ZR+ Optics.

Uncertainty ahead

Dell’Oro Group said the first quarter of the year came in stronger than it had anticipated just three months ago.

As a result, the research raised its 2025 market outlook.

Despite the growth, Dell’Oro cautioned that market uncertainty remains elevated due to U.S. government initiatives that may increase costs and slow economic growth.

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