Press release

Worldwide Server Market Revenue Grew 7.5% Year Over Year in the Fourth Quarter of 2019, According to IDC

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According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, vendor revenue in the worldwide server market grew 7.5% year over year to $25.4 billion during the fourth quarter of 2019 (4Q19). Worldwide server shipments grew 14.0% year over year to just over 3.4 million units in 4Q19.

In terms of server class, volume server revenue was up 12.1% to $19.7 billion, while midrange server revenue declined 14.1% to $3.3 billion and high-end systems grew by 8.9% to $2.4 billion.

“While the server market recaptured growth during the fourth quarter, it was a bit of a mixed bag as robust hyperscaler demand benefited the ODM Direct vendor group, which combined with strong non-x86 server purchases to drive the broader market,” said Sebastian Lagana, research manager, Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC. “While the OEM x86 market was tepid, it’s worth noting that 4Q18 was one of the most challenging comparison periods in history, during which many OEMs generated double-digit growth and large revenue bases.”

Overall Server Market Standings, by Company

The number one position in the worldwide server market in 4Q19 was shared* by the combined HPE/New H3C Group and Dell Technologies with revenue shares of 16.3% and 15.7% respectively. HPE/New H3C Group revenues were down 3.4% year over year while Dell Technologies declined 9.9%. The third ranking server supplier during the quarter was IBM, generating 9.1% revenue share on growth of 17.6%. Inspur/Inspur Power Systems was fourth with 6.8% revenue share and year-over-year growth of 12.1%. Lenovo and Huawei were statistically tied* for the fifth position in the market with market shares of 5.6% and 5.1% respectively. Lenovo’s revenues were down 2.6% year over year while Huawei grew its revenues 1.8% in 4Q19. The ODM Direct group of vendors accounted for 25.5% of total revenue and was up 37.9% year over year to $6.47 billion. Dell Technologies led the worldwide server market in terms of unit shipments, accounting for 16.1% of all units shipped during the quarter.

 

Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Server Vendor Revenue, Market Share, and Growth, Fourth

Quarter of 2019
(Revenues are in US$ Millions)

Company

4Q19

Revenue

4Q19

Market

Share

4Q18

Revenue

4Q18

Market

Share

4Q19/4Q18

Revenue

Growth

T1. HPE/New H3C Groupa*

$4,137.2

16.3

%

$4,281.0

18.2

%

-3.4

%

T1. Dell Technologies*

$3,986.6

15.7

%

$4,426.4

18.8

%

-9.9

%

3. IBM

$2,295.2

9.1

%

$1,951.0

8.3

%

17.6

%

4. Inspur/Inspur Power Systemsb

$1,736.1

6.8

%

$1,548.8

6.6

%

12.1

%

T5. Lenovo*

$1,417.6

5.6

%

$1,455.8

6.2

%

-2.6

%

T5. Huawei*

$1,284.5

5.1

%

$1,262.3

5.4

%

1.8

%

ODM Direct

$6,470.9

25.5

%

$4,693.3

19.9

%

37.9

%

Rest of Market

$4,023.7

15.9

%

$3,963.9

16.8

%

1.5

%

Total

$25,351.9

100

%

$23,582.4

100

%

7.5

%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, March 12, 2020

 

Notes:

* IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide server market when there is a difference of one percent or less in the share of revenues or shipments among two or more vendors.

a Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and the New H3C Group, IDC is reporting external market share on a global level for HPE and New H3C Group as “HPE/New H3C Group” starting from 2Q 2016.

b Due to the existing joint venture between IBM and Inspur, IDC is reporting external market share on a global level for Inspur and Inspur Power Systems as “Inspur/Inspur Power Systems” starting from 3Q 2018.

 

Top 5 Companies, Worldwide Server Unit Shipments, Market Share, and Growth, Fourth

Quarter of 2019

Company

4Q19 Unit

Shipments

4Q19

Market

Share

4Q18 Unit

Shipments

4Q18

Market

Share

4Q19/4Q18

Unit

Growth

1. Dell Technologies

549,488

16.1

%

580,579

19.4

%

-5.4

%

2. HPE/New H3C Groupa

507,228

14.9

%

484,668

16.2

%

4.7

%

3. Inspur/Inspur Power Systemsb

270,567

8.0

%

247,600

8.3

%

9.3

%

T4. Lenovo*

233,896

6.9

%

190,721

6.4

%

22.6

%

T4. Huawei*

216,734

6.4

%

211,618

7.1

%

2.4

%

ODM Direct

1,054,743

31.0

%

689,394

23.1

%

53.0

%

Rest of Market

570,667

16.8

%

582,070

19.5

%

-2.0

%

Total

3,403,323

100

%

2,986,651

100

%

14.0

%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, March 12, 2020

 

Notes:

* IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide server market when there is a difference of one percent or less in the share of revenues or shipments among two or more vendors.

a Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and the New H3C Group, IDC is reporting external market share on a global level for HPE and New H3C Group as “HPE/New H3C Group” starting from 2Q 2016.

b Due to the existing joint venture between IBM and Inspur, IDC is reporting external market share on a global level for Inspur and Inspur Power Systems as “Inspur/Inspur Power Systems” starting from 3Q 2018.

In addition to the table above, a graphic illustrating worldwide revenue market share for the top 5 server companies over the previous five quarters is available by viewing this press release on IDC.com.

Top Server Market Findings

On a geographic basis, Canada, Latin America, and the USA all saw double-digit year-over-year growth in 4Q19, up 19.3%, 19.0%, and 15.5% respectively. Japan (5.2%) and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) (4.2%) also saw year-over-year growth, albeit at a slower pace than the Americas. China saw its 4Q19 vendor revenues grow at a faster pace than APeJ in aggregate, up 6.7% year over year. Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) declined 5.2% year over year.

Revenue generated from x86 servers increased 6.3% in 4Q19 to $22.4 billion. Non-x86 servers grew 17.7% year over year to just under $3.0 billion.

IDC’s Server Taxonomy

IDC’s Server Taxonomy maps the eleven price bands within the server market into three price ranges: volume servers, midrange servers and high-end servers. The revenue data presented in this release is stated as vendor revenue for a server system. IDC presents data in vendor revenue to determine market share position. Vendor revenue represents those dollars recognized by multi-user system and server vendors for ISS (initial server shipment) and upgrade units sold through direct and indirect channels and includes the following embedded server components: Frame or cabinet and all cables, processors, memory, communications boards, operating system software, other bundled software and initial internal and external disk shipments.

IDC’s Quarterly Server Tracker is a quantitative tool for analyzing the global server market on a quarterly basis. The Tracker includes quarterly unit shipments and revenues (both vendor revenue and value of shipments), segmented by vendor, family, model, region, operating system, price band, CPU type, and architecture. This Tracker is part of the Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Infrastructure Tracker, which provides a holistic total addressable market view of the five key enabling infrastructure technologies for the datacenter (servers, external enterprise storage systems, purpose-built appliances: HCI and PBBA, and datacenter switches).

For more information about IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, please contact Lidice Fernandez at 305-351-3057 or lfernandez@idc.com.

About IDC Trackers

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International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC’s analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights: http://bit.ly/IDCBlog_Subscribe.

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