HPE, Dell Battle For Server Market-Share Supremacy

The global server market hit $23.6 billion in second-quarter 2021, with midrange and high-end server sales dropping 30 percent or more, according to new data from IDC. CRN breaks down the top five server vendors that led the world in market share and total number of servers shipped.

Server Sales Drop 2.5 Percent; Shipments Show Flat Growth

Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise were neck and neck in terms of winning the gold medal in the $23.6 billion global server market during the second quarter of 2021.

The worldwide server market declined 2.5 percent year over year to $23.6 billion in the second quarter, according to new data from IT research firm IDC. The number of servers shipped globally was flat on a year-over-year basis with a total of 3.2 million servers shipped during the quarter.

“Broadly speaking, server market performance was muted in the second quarter as the market shifted slightly toward single-socket server configurations,” said Paul Maguranis, senior research analyst for Infrastructure Platforms and Technologies at IDC, in a statement.

Breaking down the market segments, volume server revenue was up 5.6 percent to nearly $20 billion year over year, while midrange server sales declined 30 percent to $2.4 billion. High-end servers declined by 33 percent year over year to $1.3 billion, according to IDC. In terms of the type of servers sold, sales generated from x86 servers decreased 2.2 percent to $21.4 billion, while non-x86 server revenue declined 4.5 percent year over year to $2.3 billion.

IDC declares a statistical tie when two or more vendors are within 1 percentage point of each other. In this case, two companies tied for first place in terms of server market share in the second quarter of 2021.

Here are the world’s top five leading server market-share leaders in the world right now.

No. 5: IBM

Market Share: 5%

Total Servers Shipped: Under 150,000

IBM ranks in fifth place in server market share after generating $1.17 billion in server sales in the second quarter. However, $1.17 billion in sales represents a decline of nearly 20 percent year over year compared with the $1.45 billion in revenue IBM captured in second-quarter 2020.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based company won 5 percent of the global market in the second quarter, down from 6 percent share year over year.

In terms of total servers shipped globally, IBM did not rank in the top five, meaning the company sold less than 150,000 servers on a worldwide basis. It is key to note that IBM has a joint server partnership with Inspur, which also made IDC’s top five global market-share list, around its Power Systems.

No. 4: Lenovo

Market Share: 7%

Total Servers Shipped: 201,554

The Hong Kong-based PC giant and data center standout won fourth place in IDC’s global server market-share list and witnessed the largest server growth in terms of revenue percentage.

Lenovo generated $1.65 billion in server sales on a global basis, representing nearly 13 percent growth year over year. This huge revenue spike improved Lenovo’s worldwide market share from 6.1 percent in second-quarter 2020 to 7 percent.

In terms of total servers shipped globally, Lenovo shipped a total of 201,554 server units in the second quarter, up more than 4 percent year over year. Only Dell, HPE and Inspur sold more servers on a global basis than Lenovo.

No. 3: Inspur

Market Share: 9.4%

Total Servers Shipped: 324,717

Inspur has seen its global server market-share numbers grow rapidly over the past few years as the China-based company has been red-hot throughout the Asia-Pacific region. However, in the second quarter, Inspur saw both its sales and market share drop significantly.

Inspur generated a total of $2.21 billion in server sales during the second quarter, representing a decline of nearly 13 percent year over year. This drop in sales caused Inspur’s market share to drop 1.1 points from 10.5 percent share in second-quarter 2020 to 9.4 percent share, according to IDC.

Inspur took home third place in terms of the number of servers shipped in the second quarter with a total of 324,717 server units, representing a decline of 8 percent year over year.

No. 1: Dell Technologies

Market Share: 15.6%

Total Servers Shipped: 529,804

IDC declares a statistical tie when two or more vendors are within 1 percentage point of each other in the share of revenue. In the second quarter of 2021, Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise were within just $24 million of each other in terms of server revenue as well as less than a fraction of percent for market share.

Dell generated a total of $3.68 billion in server sales during the second quarter, representing a more than 10 percent revenue increase year over year. Dell’s server revenue increased 10.2 percent compared with HPE’s 3.4 percent sales growth year over year.

Dell’s server market share rose from 13.8 percent share in second-quarter 2020 to 15.6 percent share. The company’s 1.8-point market-share growth represents the largest share increase of any company, according to IDC’s data.

The Round Rock, Texas-based company won the gold medal in terms of the total number of servers shipped globally. Dell shipped a total of 529,804 servers in the second quarter, up 22.5 percent year over year.

No. 1: Hewlett Packard Enterprise/H3C

Market Share: 15.7%

Total Servers Shipped: 446,168

Due to the existing joint venture between HPE and H3C, IDC combines market share from both companies in its server data research as HPE/H3C.

Houston-based HPE and China-based H3C generated a total of $3.7 billion in server sales in the second quarter, up 3.4 percent year over year. HPE and H3C’s market share stands at 15.7 percent in the second quarter of 2021, up from 14.8 percent year over year.

In terms of total servers shipped in the quarter, HPE/H3C placed second by shipping a total of 446,168 servers, representing a decline of 2.3 percent year over year.

Looking at server shipment competition between Dell and HPE/H3C, Dell shipped 98,000 more servers in second-quarter 2021 year over year, while HPE/H3C shipped about 10,000 less servers on a year-over-year basis.

ODM Direct

Market Share: 26.7%

Original design manufacturers (ODMs) accounted for the largest market share for server revenue, although IDC combines all ODMs in terms of server revenue share and total shipments. ODMs design and manufacture servers that are later rebranded by other companies for sale.

The group of ODMs generated $6.3 billion in server revenue in the second quarter, representing a decline in sales of 9 percent year over year. These ODMs captured 26.7 percent share of the total server market in the second quarter, down from 28.5 percent year over year.

“While servers purchased directly from ODMs declined year over year, some past backlog recovery within the hyperscale data center community contributed to a large jump in this segment when compared to the first quarter of this year,” said IDC’s Maguranis.

When combining ODM server vendor shipments, the group shipped a total of just over 1 billion servers, representing a 2.3 percent fall year over year.