Demand for computer servers in the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan rose 6.7 percent to slightly more than US$5 billion last year, US-based research firm Gartner said yesterday.
Sales were led by the booming Chinese and Indian markets as the region recovered from the impact of the war in Iraq and the outbreak of SARS, Gartner said in a report.
"2003 actually illustrated the resilience of the local market to adversity such as SARS and conflict in Iraq," said Matthew Boon, Gartner regional vice president for hardware and systems.
Server sales in China rose 10 percent to US$1.62 billion last year, accounting for 32.4 percent of the regional total, up from 31.6 percent in 2002.
"Growth in the uptake of low-end Intel servers propelled revenue ... especially from small- and medium-sized businesses and also from government, finance and telecommunications [sectors]," Gartner said.
South Korean sales fell 1.9 percent to US$1.06 billion or 21.1 percent of the total.
"Delays and cancellation of big projects led to lower hardware spending in South Korea in 2003," Gartner said.
"However, consolidation initiatives in the finance and banking sector and investment in telecommunications helped lower the overall decline rates."
Sales in India rose 31.9 percent to US$327.1 million and are tipped to grow further as the world's top companies outsource operations there, Gartner said.
"The Indian market has been growing steadily given the healthy economy and improved business confidence," said Vinod Nair, Gartner India's computing systems analyst.
"Server deployments in finance and banking and the telecommunications sector have been the main drivers in 2003," Nair said.
"With more multinational companies looking to set up base in India and the outsourcing business growing ... demand for both Intel and Unix servers is expected to increase steadily in 2004," he said.
Sales in Taiwan grew 2.8 percent US$331.1 million last year, Singapore was up 15.7 percent at US$233.62 million while Kong Kong fell 5.3 percent to US$222.16 million.
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