‘I think we’ll see more AI acquisitions in 2026. But three to five years from now, we could be having a very different conversation,’ says John Holland, managing director of Corporate Finance Associates.
AI moved from talking point to deal driver in IT services M&A during the fourth quarter of 2025, marking what one M&A expert called a clear inflection point, even as overall deal volume remained remarkably steady.
“This is the first calendar quarter I’ve ever observed where there was more than one meaningful AI transaction,” John Holland, managing director at Corporate Finance Associates, told CRN. “That’s why I think this moment really matters.”
Laguna Hills, Calif.-based Corporate Finance Associates is an investment banking firm with decades of experience in executing mergers and acquisitions in the IT and telecom services industries.
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After years of AI hype with little corresponding M&A activity, the fourth quarter delivered several notable transactions that signaled a shift. Among them: Accenture’s acquisition of a U.K.-based AI consultancy specializing in Palantir AI solutions and Insight’s purchase of Chicago-based Inspire11, positioning it as an AI platform and solutions provider.
There was also a $40 billion deal in which a consortium, The Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership that included Nvidia and Microsoft, acquired data center operator Aligned Data Centers to support long-term AI infrastructure demand.
“That one really stood out to me,” Holland said of the Nvidia-Microsoft deal. “They’re investing for the future growth of AI. They’re making sure the infrastructure will be there.”
Holland also pointed to Shield Technology Partners, a venture-backed firm that raised $100 million to acquire MSPs with the goal of embedding AI engineering capabilities across those platforms.
“This isn’t private equity buying stable businesses,” he said. “This is venture capital taking controlling stakes in MSPs because they believe AI will be a competitive advantage.”
In all, there were about 10 AI-related M&A deals in the IT services industry in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The burst of AI-related activity came against a backdrop of overall market stability that Holland predicted a year ago. Total IT services M&A transactions reached 494 deals in 2025, nearly identical to the 497 deals recorded in 2024.
“If you compare 2024 to 2025, it’s almost exactly the same number of M&A transactions,” Holland said. “So when I said the market was poised for stability, I think that really panned out.”
That steadiness follows the surge of 2021 and 2022, fueled by pandemic-era stimulus and historically low interest rates, when private equity activity exploded and valuations climbed. As interest rates rose in 2023 and capital tightened, deal volume declined and then leveled off.
“What we’re seeing from 2023 through 2025 is a normalization,” Holland said. “But it’s important to remember that today’s activity is still well above pre-pandemic levels.”
Despite AI’s newfound presence, Holland cautioned that it is unlikely to dramatically change overall M&A volume in the near term.
“There are just so few AI companies out there, and they’re so young,” he said. “Most are still too immature to be acquired, so I don’t believe AI transactions will move the dial much in 2026.”
Instead, AI acquisitions today look more like gap-fillers for large solution providers, similar to cloud and cybersecurity deals several years ago, he said.
“Accenture and Insight understand that AI is critical long term, and they see gaps,” Holland said. “They don’t build it, they buy it.”
That pattern also helps explain why some traditional M&A heavy hitters appeared less active in parts of 2025, even as AI deals picked up.
“The usual suspects weren’t as active this quarter,” Holland said. “It could be that they’ve made so many acquisitions, quarter after quarter, that they just have to digest and integrate what they already bought.”
One clear exception was Accenture, which continued to acquire aggressively across cybersecurity, cloud, data and AI.
“Accenture has an enormous M&A team and a very professional integration process,” he said. “They can continue at this pace in a way that smaller companies simply can’t.”
Looking ahead, Holland believes 2025 will be remembered as a bridge year, steady but transitional, rather than the beginning of a full-scale AI-driven M&A boom.
“I think we’ll see more AI acquisitions in 2026,” he said. “But three to five years from now, we could be having a very different conversation.”
