Grainger said MRO demand strengthened across every major customer segment during the quarter, with manufacturing, government, contractors, and retail all contributing to growth.

For the first six months of 2026, net sales increased 12.1% to $7.1 billion from $6.3 billion in the same period last year, while net income climbed 25.7% to $300.5 million from $239.1 million.

Sysco’s announcement reflects a broader trend among large distributors to expand AI beyond customer-facing applications and into supply chain, logistics and back-office operations, where productivity improvements can have a greater impact on profitability.

The results extend AD’s momentum from the first quarter and come less than a month after the organization announced its intent to acquire supplyFORCE, a provider of national maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) and government contract management services

The acquisition combines two major suppliers to the electrical industry as investment accelerates in power infrastructure, artificial intelligence data centers, manufacturing expansion and grid modernization—markets that increasingly drive demand for electrical distributors.

The expansion builds on longstanding relationships with the distributors rather than creating new partnerships.

The investments reflect a broader shift in specialty distribution as security, access control, networking and audiovisual systems become more integrated and technically complex.