Research Roundup: Data Centers Go Hybrid, AI’s Impact, Server Sales Pop

Catch up on the latest intel from leading IT market researchers and pollsters.

Data centers are going hybrid. AI’s real-world impact is a mixed bag. And server sales are soaring.

That’s some of the latest from leading IT market researchers and polling firms. And to catch you up, here’s July’s Research Roundup.

What’s the State of the Data Center?

The state of the data center can be summed up in a single word: hybrid.

That’s according to a new report that finds that hybrid IT has become the standard operating model for enterprise data centers. In other words, organizations are distributing their IT workloads across multiple infrastructure types, primarily cloud, colocation and on-premises.

These organizations are also contending with two new data-center factors. One, workloads are becoming even more distributed. And two, new AI systems are putting stringent demands on existing IT infrastructure.

As a result, organizations are taking a more deliberate approach to workload placement. Rather than considering cost alone—as has traditionally been the case—they’re now looking at multiple factors. These include performance, security, data control and connectivity.

You can find these and other related findings in the 2026 State of the Data Center Report published earlier this month by CoreSite, a provider of data-center connectivity products. The company’s report is based on a survey, conducted by Foundry, of over 300 IT leaders.

What Kinds of Impact is AI Actually Having?

• Software development with AI is a mixed bag: Roughly 8 in 10 developers say they use AI in the Build phase of writing code, finds the Info-Tech Research Group. But two-thirds of developers also say AI-generated code requires more testing than does code generated by humans.

• Using AI, but also worrying: About half of all U.S. adults use AI chatbots, and 1 in 4 use chatbots every day, finds Pew Research. In addition, nearly a third of U.S. adults own a smart speaker (35% of those polled) or smartwatch (37%). But only 16% of adults expect AI will have a positive impact on society over the next 20 years, while 40% think AI’s impact will be negative, Pew finds. In addition, nearly a third of those surveyed expect AI’s impact will be equally positive and negative, while 13% aren’t sure.

• For customer service, third-party chatbots: Customers are 3 times more likely to use third-party generative AI than company-provided chatbots for customer service, finds Gartner’s survey of more than 3,560 B2B and B2C customers. Also, customers now use chatbots to not only answer questions, but also complete tasks and take other actions. Further, when a chatbot is unable to help, customers expect to be able to reach a human agent.

• AI for marketing – another mixed bag: Nine in 10 U.S. marketing agencies use GenAI, while half use agentic AI, finds a new report from Forrester. However, Forrester says, this rapid adoption of AI is undermining the agencies’ effectiveness, creativity and long-term brand growth. “The industry is at risk for mistaking efficiency for effectiveness,” argues Forrester analyst Jay Pattisall. To course-correct, marketing firms should instead invest instead in creativity, talent and marketing performance, Forrester advises.

• Reducing manual workloads with AI? Not much: While over 8 in 10 enterprise leaders (85%) say they’ve deployed AI across at least some of their organizations, about half (52%) also say their manual workload hasn’t shrunk, finds a pair of surveys conducted for Nitro, a provider of document solutions. The surveys, which polled over 1,300 executives in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., found that nearly all organizations (96%) still require print-sign-scan workflows for at least some documents. “Deploying AI may seem like the easy part,” says Nitro CEO Cormac Whelan. “Delivering time and cost savings securely at scale is a struggle.”

How Big is the Server Market? And How Fast is it Growing?

The worldwide market for servers is big, and its growth is fast. In this year’s first quarter, global server sales totaled $122.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30%, according to market watcher IDC.

The growth was driven partly by infrastructure investments in AI, which have moved from cyclical to durable. Among all servers acquired in Q1, over half (55%) were powered by GPUs, IDC says.

Another issue affecting the server market is supply constraint. While demand for all new servers is robust, shipments have been limited by shortages of specific components—notably DRAM and NAND flash. In other words, organizations aren’t getting new servers as quickly as they’d like.

Among the leading server vendors, Supermicro had an especially strong quarter. The company’s server revenue in Q1:26 topped $9.3 billion, IDC says. That was more than double Supermicro’s server revenue for the year-earlier quarter.