Taiwan’s server shipments are expected to grow 10.6 percent sequentially to 1.26 million units this quarter, on increasing orders from US server brands, Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC, 資策會) said in a report on Wednesday.
Last quarter, Taiwan shipped a total of 1.13 million servers, according to the government-funded market researcher.
Sales value is forecast to increase 10.5 percent sequentially to about US$1.44 billion this quarter, MIC said.
“Squeezed by Chinese brands, international brands like HP and IBM posted shipment declines [during the first half of the year], thereby dampening Taiwan’s server shipments,” MIC’s report said.
US brand server products accounted for about 50 percent of China’s market in the first six months, down from up to 70 percent in previous years, amid increasing competition from Chinese brands, such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為), Sugon Information Industry Co Ltd (中科曙光) and Lenovo Group (聯想), the report said.
As a result, Taiwanese server makers reported two consecutive quarters of shipment contraction in the first half, because up to 80 percent of domestic makers’ orders were placed by international brands, especially the top three US server brands — Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell Inc and International Business Machines Corp, MIC said.
MIC said sales of US branded servers are expected to resume growth in the second half and will remain competitive in North America, Europe and Japan, which will benefit local contract makers, including Quanta Computer Inc (廣達).
On Friday, Quanta said at a corporate event that its subsidiary, Quanta Cloud Technology Inc (雲達), had become the world’s largest server supplier after obtaining orders from Google Inc, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp.
Mike Yang (楊晴華), general manager of Quanta Cloud Technology, said increasing orders from clients due to strong demand for big data processing could push the firm’s annual server sales to grow 40 percent next year from this year.
In August, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) said server sales accounted for between 10 percent and 15 percent of Quanta’s total consolidated sales.
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