Chronic kit shortages during the pandemic “served the channel pretty well”, TD Synnex’s CEO stressed as he predicted distribution will “continue to have a good story in 2026” despite mounting memory shortages.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen following its barnstorming Q4 results, Patrick Zammit also weighed in on the rightsizing of local peer Exertis UK and the need to bolster TD Synnex’s European cyber vendor line-up.
UK channel partners are bracing for “pandemic levels” of kit shortages in 2026, with the AI boom to blame.
“The pandemic served the channel pretty well. Allocation created issues, but if you look at the impact on revenue and profitability I would say [the pandemic] was pretty good [for the channel],” Zammit told IT Channel Oxygen.
“I remember our team suffering a lot [during the pandemic] – fighting with the vendors to get the products. So I’m not discounting [the threat of shortages]. It’s going to take a lot of work, and there will be a lot of tensions, to make sure we can serve the end users well together with the partners.”
“We’re working on it”
The world’s largest IT distributor on Thursday unveiled a 23% and 15% year-on-year hike in operating income and gross billings in the final quarter of its fiscal 2025, respectively.
On the earnings call, Zammit said he was “bullish” about the long-term value proposition both of its fast-growing hyperscale infrastructure business, Hyve, and IT distribution.
“I think we’ll continue to have a good story in 2026,” Zammit told us, asserting that PCs, cyber, cloud and software – as well as servers – will grow strongly in 2026 (he was more cautious on storage and networking).
Zammit also flagged up a chink in TD Synnex’s European armour, saying the distributor is “missing some important” cybersecurity vendors in the region.
“We’re working on it,” he promised.
While characterising Exertis UK’s current plight as “sad”, Zammit said its troubles show that “it’s very important where you are positioned”.
“My message internally is, pick your battles and make sure you get rewarded for the service you render,” he said.
“And the second thing I’m saying to my teams all the time is that we have two set of customers: the partners and the vendors. You need to make sure you’re delivering the right value to both categories. I am obsessed with making sure we serve well not only the partners, but just as importantly the vendors.”
Zammit also opened up on its fast-growing Hyve business, his M&A aspirations and the aspects of TD Synnex’s 2025 performance that most pleased him.
Read the full interview on next page….
