In this episode, Philbert Shih, Founder and Managing Director of Structure Research, offers a deep dive into the evolving landscape of digital infrastructure through the lens of market intelligence and industry specialization. From launching his boutique firm in 2011 to supporting over $3 billion in M&A transactions, Phil shares insights into the macro trends reshaping the sector, including the rise of hyperscale cloud, the real-world impact of AI, and the mounting constraints of power, land, and regulatory hurdles. He also previews Structure Research’s annual Infrastructure Summit, emphasizing the 2025 theme of “Concurrence” — a reflection of the many concurrent forces redefining the industry.
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About
Philbert Shih is the Founder and Managing Director of Structure Research, an independent Toronto and Singapore-based research and consulting firm devoted to the cloud and data centre infrastructure services markets with a specialization in the hyperscale value chain. Mr. Shih is based in Toronto and has covered the infrastructure services space for over 20 years. His coverage of the sector is global in scope and extends across the broader Internet infrastructure value chain. He is the conference chair for the annual infra / STRUCTURE summit and heads up the Structure Research consulting practice, which has advised and provided subject matter expertise for transactions across data centre, cloud and managed hosting, with over $3b in value.
Prior to founding Structure Research in 2011, Mr. Shih was the first hosting infrastructure analyst hired after Tier1 Research was sold to The 451 Group (2005) and spent six years as Senior Analyst for managed hosting and cloud. In this role, Mr. Shih helped launch Tier1’s coverage of hosting and cloud in international markets and was the lead and contributing author to all of the company’s quarterly and bi-annual hosting infrastructure sector reports.
