CDW (CDW)
Connects businesses and public institutions with multi-brand IT products, cloud solutions, and services.
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CDW is the middleman of corporate technology. It buys computers, software and cloud subscriptions from a thousand-odd makers, configures and installs them, and resells the lot to businesses, government agencies, schools and hospitals, earning a markup rather than a price. Its customers are buying infrastructure for artificial intelligence faster than they are buying help to run it, so sales are climbing while the margin thins.
Item facts: FY2025 10-K + H1 2026 filings, from filings, earnings calls and company pages.
Judgment weights, not filed revenue
The band summarizes business focus and direction. ~ marks estimates.
8 in detail · 16 more below
Commercial
The biggest block of buyers — companies, hospitals and banks — took $7.5B of technology in the first half, up 9%. Corporate orders for AI-ready equipment lead; financial services barely grew at 2%.
Competes with North America segment (Insight Enterprises) · Enterprise Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Enterprise IT sourcing (SHI International)
In plain English
Think of a hardware store for company computer rooms. A firm needs three hundred laptops, a few servers and the software to lock them down; CDW's sales team assembles that order from many different makers, builds the machines to specification in its own warehouses, ships them and stays on the phone afterwards.
CDW pays the makers, marks the goods up and keeps the difference. The awkward part sits on the buying side: it deals with more than a thousand suppliers, yet two wholesalers, Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX, together supply over a quarter of everything it purchases.
Healthcare
The hospital and insurer end of the Commercial book, a channel that passed $1.7B of sales in 2025. It grew 9% last quarter as customers bought AI tools for settling claims and writing up clinical notes.
Competes with North America segment (Insight Enterprises) · Enterprise integration practice (World Wide Technology)
In plain English
Hospitals and insurers run some of the fussiest computer systems anywhere — patient records that cannot leak, scanners that cannot go dark, and rules about both. CDW keeps teams who sell to nobody else.
The money arrives the same way as everywhere else: a markup on resold equipment and software, plus fees when CDW's own engineers do the installing. What changed this year is the shopping list — software that reads clinical notes and settles insurance claims, which tends to arrive as a subscription rather than a box.
CDW Amplified Security
Design-and-defend work wrapped around the security software CDW resells. Both sales and profit grew double digits last quarter, after an AI model that hunts software flaws set off a scramble to patch. Demand here arrives in waves, not budgets.
Competes with Security integration practice (Optiv) · Managed security services (CrowdStrike) · Security consulting (Presidio)
In plain English
Two jobs in one practice: selling firewalls and security software made by others, and renting out CDW's own engineers to design the defences and keep watch over them.
In April an Anthropic model called Claude Mythos was shown finding large numbers of software flaws on its own, and companies hurried to fix theirs. One large financial-services customer hired CDW for a multimillion-dollar repair programme covering security, cloud plumbing and hybrid infrastructure. That is how this line earns: an outside shock creates a job too big for the customer's own staff, and CDW bills for the people who do it.
CDW UK and CDW Canada
The two overseas arms, reported together because neither is big enough to stand alone. First-half sales of $1.63B rose 20%, the fastest growth in the company, and Canada has just opened a Calgary hub with a round-the-clock operations centre.
Competes with Technology Sourcing (Computacenter) · UK mid-market resale (Softcat) · Softchoice (World Wide Technology)
In plain English
Same business, different passports. British and Canadian companies, councils, schools and hospitals buy from local CDW entities that draw on the same global list of suppliers. Rivals there are large and doing well too — Computacenter and Softcat each crossed two billion pounds of UK half-year revenue this year — so twenty-odd percent growth reflects a hot market as much as a share gain.
Because the results are reported in dollars, the exchange rate moves the number. Managers are held to growth with currency stripped out, and currency was expected to give reported growth a slight lift this year.
Education
School districts and universities: $1.61B in the first half, but only 1.5% growth. Summer is the buying season, which is why this was the second-largest block last quarter. K-12 is healthy; universities are short of money.
Competes with Public Sector Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Public sector team (Insight Enterprises) · Education accounts (SHI International)
In plain English
Schools buy in July. A district replaces a few thousand student laptops, adds the software and support that go with them, and wants the machines ready before term starts. CDW does that preparation work in its own warehouses, so the boxes arrive fit to hand out.
It earns a markup on the equipment and fees for the lifecycle work of preparing, repairing and replacing it. Growth has stalled at one to three percent for two quarters running: the pandemic money is spent, and universities are holding back while K-12 keeps refreshing.
Amplified IT
A Google-for-schools specialist CDW bought in 2021 and still runs under its own name. It sets up and looks after the Google accounts and classroom software districts use, which puts CDW's engineers in the buildings that also buy its laptops.
Competes with Public Sector Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Education accounts (SHI International)
In plain English
Google's school software needs somebody to run it — an account for every pupil and teacher, devices to enrol, permissions to set. Districts rarely have that person on staff.
CDW bought a practice that does nothing else and sells its hours: setup, clean-up, training, and someone to call. The bigger prize is position. Whoever holds a district's account settings is in the room when it decides which laptops to buy next.
CDW Government
Federal, state and local buyers: $1.48B in the first half. Federal orders came back after last year's shutdown and the spring quarter grew almost 14%. Most of it arrives through pre-negotiated purchasing agreements rather than single large awards.
Competes with Public Sector Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Public sector practice (World Wide Technology) · Public sector practice (Insight Enterprises)
In plain English
Governments cannot simply buy what they like; purchases have to be competed. So buying groups run the contest once, pick their suppliers, and every member agency then orders off that pre-agreed list. CDW holds those places.
The result is a long tail of small orders — an outside tally counted roughly 1,800 federal awards worth about $1.5B over three years — rather than a handful of giant contracts. The upside is repeat, low-drama business. The downside is that when Washington stops appropriating money, as it did last year, the orders simply stop.
AI 360 Framework
CDW's attempt to sell the thinking rather than the boxes: a packaged way to plan, govern and secure a customer's AI work. Its anchor is a multiyear deal with a Western state's technology office, now being sold on to other governments.
Competes with Data & AI practice (Insight Enterprises) · Databricks implementation practice (Accenture) · Data & analytics consulting (Deloitte)
In plain English
Selling a server is a transaction; telling an organisation how to use it is a relationship. AI 360 is CDW's packaged answer to the second — strategy, rules about what the software may decide, the infrastructure underneath, the security around it, and the data plumbing to feed it.
One Western state's technology office signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar version, which CDW is now repackaging for other states and cities. The data half is about to get bigger: in September CDW agreed to pay roughly $525M for Lovelytics, a specialist in the Databricks data platform, while saying it will not move this year's numbers.
CommercialThe biggest block of buyers — companies, hospitals and banks — took $7.5B of technology in the first half, up 9%. Corporate orders for AI-ready equipment lead; financial services barely grew at 2%.The biggest block of buyers — companies, hospitals and banks — took $7.5B of technology in the first half, up 9%. Corporate orders for AI-ready equipment lead; financial services barely grew at 2%.
In plain English
Think of a hardware store for company computer rooms. A firm needs three hundred laptops, a few servers and the software to lock them down; CDW's sales team assembles that order from many different makers, builds the machines to specification in its own warehouses, ships them and stays on the phone afterwards.
CDW pays the makers, marks the goods up and keeps the difference. The awkward part sits on the buying side: it deals with more than a thousand suppliers, yet two wholesalers, Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX, together supply over a quarter of everything it purchases.
Competes with North America segment (Insight Enterprises) · Enterprise Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Enterprise IT sourcing (SHI International)
HealthcareThe hospital and insurer end of the Commercial book, a channel that passed $1.7B of sales in 2025. It grew 9% last quarter as customers bought AI tools for settling claims and writing up clinical notes.The hospital and insurer end of the Commercial book, a channel that passed $1.7B of sales in 2025. It grew 9% last quarter as customers bought AI tools for settling claims and writing up clinical notes.
In plain English
Hospitals and insurers run some of the fussiest computer systems anywhere — patient records that cannot leak, scanners that cannot go dark, and rules about both. CDW keeps teams who sell to nobody else.
The money arrives the same way as everywhere else: a markup on resold equipment and software, plus fees when CDW's own engineers do the installing. What changed this year is the shopping list — software that reads clinical notes and settles insurance claims, which tends to arrive as a subscription rather than a box.
Competes with North America segment (Insight Enterprises) · Enterprise integration practice (World Wide Technology)
CDW Amplified SecurityDesign-and-defend work wrapped around the security software CDW resells. Both sales and profit grew double digits last quarter, after an AI model that hunts software flaws set off a scramble to patch. Demand here arrives in waves, not budgets.Design-and-defend work wrapped around the security software CDW resells. Both sales and profit grew double digits last quarter, after an AI model that hunts software flaws set off a scramble to patch. Demand here arrives in waves, not budgets.
In plain English
Two jobs in one practice: selling firewalls and security software made by others, and renting out CDW's own engineers to design the defences and keep watch over them.
In April an Anthropic model called Claude Mythos was shown finding large numbers of software flaws on its own, and companies hurried to fix theirs. One large financial-services customer hired CDW for a multimillion-dollar repair programme covering security, cloud plumbing and hybrid infrastructure. That is how this line earns: an outside shock creates a job too big for the customer's own staff, and CDW bills for the people who do it.
Competes with Security integration practice (Optiv) · Managed security services (CrowdStrike) · Security consulting (Presidio)
CDW UK and CDW CanadaThe two overseas arms, reported together because neither is big enough to stand alone. First-half sales of $1.63B rose 20%, the fastest growth in the company, and Canada has just opened a Calgary hub with a round-the-clock operations centre.The two overseas arms, reported together because neither is big enough to stand alone. First-half sales of $1.63B rose 20%, the fastest growth in the company, and Canada has just opened a Calgary hub with a round-the-clock operations centre.
In plain English
Same business, different passports. British and Canadian companies, councils, schools and hospitals buy from local CDW entities that draw on the same global list of suppliers. Rivals there are large and doing well too — Computacenter and Softcat each crossed two billion pounds of UK half-year revenue this year — so twenty-odd percent growth reflects a hot market as much as a share gain.
Because the results are reported in dollars, the exchange rate moves the number. Managers are held to growth with currency stripped out, and currency was expected to give reported growth a slight lift this year.
Competes with Technology Sourcing (Computacenter) · UK mid-market resale (Softcat) · Softchoice (World Wide Technology)
EducationSchool districts and universities: $1.61B in the first half, but only 1.5% growth. Summer is the buying season, which is why this was the second-largest block last quarter. K-12 is healthy; universities are short of money.School districts and universities: $1.61B in the first half, but only 1.5% growth. Summer is the buying season, which is why this was the second-largest block last quarter. K-12 is healthy; universities are short of money.
In plain English
Schools buy in July. A district replaces a few thousand student laptops, adds the software and support that go with them, and wants the machines ready before term starts. CDW does that preparation work in its own warehouses, so the boxes arrive fit to hand out.
It earns a markup on the equipment and fees for the lifecycle work of preparing, repairing and replacing it. Growth has stalled at one to three percent for two quarters running: the pandemic money is spent, and universities are holding back while K-12 keeps refreshing.
Competes with Public Sector Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Public sector team (Insight Enterprises) · Education accounts (SHI International)
Amplified ITA Google-for-schools specialist CDW bought in 2021 and still runs under its own name. It sets up and looks after the Google accounts and classroom software districts use, which puts CDW's engineers in the buildings that also buy its laptops.A Google-for-schools specialist CDW bought in 2021 and still runs under its own name. It sets up and looks after the Google accounts and classroom software districts use, which puts CDW's engineers in the buildings that also buy its laptops.
In plain English
Google's school software needs somebody to run it — an account for every pupil and teacher, devices to enrol, permissions to set. Districts rarely have that person on staff.
CDW bought a practice that does nothing else and sells its hours: setup, clean-up, training, and someone to call. The bigger prize is position. Whoever holds a district's account settings is in the room when it decides which laptops to buy next.
Competes with Public Sector Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Education accounts (SHI International)
CDW GovernmentFederal, state and local buyers: $1.48B in the first half. Federal orders came back after last year's shutdown and the spring quarter grew almost 14%. Most of it arrives through pre-negotiated purchasing agreements rather than single large awards.Federal, state and local buyers: $1.48B in the first half. Federal orders came back after last year's shutdown and the spring quarter grew almost 14%. Most of it arrives through pre-negotiated purchasing agreements rather than single large awards.
In plain English
Governments cannot simply buy what they like; purchases have to be competed. So buying groups run the contest once, pick their suppliers, and every member agency then orders off that pre-agreed list. CDW holds those places.
The result is a long tail of small orders — an outside tally counted roughly 1,800 federal awards worth about $1.5B over three years — rather than a handful of giant contracts. The upside is repeat, low-drama business. The downside is that when Washington stops appropriating money, as it did last year, the orders simply stop.
Competes with Public Sector Solutions segment (PC Connection) · Public sector practice (World Wide Technology) · Public sector practice (Insight Enterprises)
AI 360 FrameworkCDW's attempt to sell the thinking rather than the boxes: a packaged way to plan, govern and secure a customer's AI work. Its anchor is a multiyear deal with a Western state's technology office, now being sold on to other governments.CDW's attempt to sell the thinking rather than the boxes: a packaged way to plan, govern and secure a customer's AI work. Its anchor is a multiyear deal with a Western state's technology office, now being sold on to other governments.
In plain English
Selling a server is a transaction; telling an organisation how to use it is a relationship. AI 360 is CDW's packaged answer to the second — strategy, rules about what the software may decide, the infrastructure underneath, the security around it, and the data plumbing to feed it.
One Western state's technology office signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar version, which CDW is now repackaging for other states and cities. The data half is about to get bigger: in September CDW agreed to pay roughly $525M for Lovelytics, a specialist in the Databricks data platform, while saying it will not move this year's numbers.
Competes with Data & AI practice (Insight Enterprises) · Databricks implementation practice (Accenture) · Data & analytics consulting (Deloitte)
Named in filings, launches and programs
- HardwareProduct line · RampingNotebooks, servers, storage and network equipment resold at a markup — about 72% of 2025 sales, and the engine of this year's growth.
- Software and cloudProduct lineLicences and subscriptions: under a fifth of sales but about 36% of gross profit, because on cloud deals CDW books only its commission.
- CDW Amplified ServicesServiceCDW's own engineers and managed-services teams — roughly 9% of 2025 sales, and flat in dollars for four straight quarters.
- Small BusinessSegmentA $1.7B reportable segment in 2025; since January 2026 a size tier inside each end market rather than a line of its own.
- Corporate channelSegmentThe largest slice of the Commercial book; up 11% last quarter on infrastructure modernisation, cloud and AI-readiness work.
- Financial Services channelSegmentBanks and insurers, up just 2% last quarter — and the home of the multimillion-dollar security clean-up programme.
- Federal and State & Local channelsSegmentState and local buyers are the larger share; federal ordering is recovering after last year's shutdown.
- K-12 and Higher Education channelsSegmentK-12 buying is healthy on devices and lifecycle work; universities remain funding-constrained.
- Mission Cloud ServicesBrandAn AWS migration practice bought in November 2024, giving CDW its own hands for moving customers onto Amazon's cloud.
- LovelyticsBrand · AnnouncedA Databricks data specialist CDW agreed to buy for about $525M in September 2026, expected to close this quarter.
- Lexicon Tech SolutionsBrandSelected assets bought in late 2025, adding capability in school device-lifecycle work.
- CDW•G MOATPlatformA public-sector playbook for adopting AI, marketed by the government arm as Mastering Operational AI Transformation.
- Cooperative contract vehiclesCustomer programPre-competed agreements such as OMNIA Partners and PACE that let schools and agencies order without running their own contest.
- Geared for GrowthProduct · Pre-revenueAn internal programme using AI to modernise CDW's own work; headcount has fallen while sales grew.
- CDW Assist Super AgentProduct · RampingAn in-house AI assistant for account planning and sales workflow, introduced alongside the modernisation programme.
- Digital Velocity SolutionsServiceA practice that builds cloud-native software and runs setups spanning several cloud providers.
HardwareProduct line · Ramping
Notebooks, servers, storage and network equipment resold at a markup — about 72% of 2025 sales, and the engine of this year's growth.
Software and cloudProduct line
Licences and subscriptions: under a fifth of sales but about 36% of gross profit, because on cloud deals CDW books only its commission.
CDW Amplified ServicesService
CDW's own engineers and managed-services teams — roughly 9% of 2025 sales, and flat in dollars for four straight quarters.
Small BusinessSegment
A $1.7B reportable segment in 2025; since January 2026 a size tier inside each end market rather than a line of its own.
Corporate channelSegment
The largest slice of the Commercial book; up 11% last quarter on infrastructure modernisation, cloud and AI-readiness work.
Financial Services channelSegment
Banks and insurers, up just 2% last quarter — and the home of the multimillion-dollar security clean-up programme.
Federal and State & Local channelsSegment
State and local buyers are the larger share; federal ordering is recovering after last year's shutdown.
K-12 and Higher Education channelsSegment
K-12 buying is healthy on devices and lifecycle work; universities remain funding-constrained.
Mission Cloud ServicesBrand
An AWS migration practice bought in November 2024, giving CDW its own hands for moving customers onto Amazon's cloud.
LovelyticsBrand · Announced
A Databricks data specialist CDW agreed to buy for about $525M in September 2026, expected to close this quarter.
Lexicon Tech SolutionsBrand
Selected assets bought in late 2025, adding capability in school device-lifecycle work.
CDW•G MOATPlatform
A public-sector playbook for adopting AI, marketed by the government arm as Mastering Operational AI Transformation.
Cooperative contract vehiclesCustomer program
Pre-competed agreements such as OMNIA Partners and PACE that let schools and agencies order without running their own contest.
Geared for GrowthProduct · Pre-revenue
An internal programme using AI to modernise CDW's own work; headcount has fallen while sales grew.
CDW Assist Super AgentProduct · Ramping
An in-house AI assistant for account planning and sales workflow, introduced alongside the modernisation programme.
Digital Velocity SolutionsService
A practice that builds cloud-native software and runs setups spanning several cloud providers.