According to Taiwan's MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, shipment volume of from the Taiwan-based server system industry players reached around 1.135 million units, with a 3.7% sequential growth. In 2012, with the demand in the government sectors, telecom operators, and large-sized enterprise slowing down, the shipment growth forecast for the industry in the second half of 2012 therefore is subdued.
With the global economy slowly improving, the global enterprise IT spending continues to remain conservative. Server branded vendors pointed out the situation where replacement demand of older servers for new ones did not live up to expectations in 2012. The industry's shipment volume is expected to have witnessed a 2% sequential growth in the third quarter of 2012, with shipment volume reaching around 1.159 million units, projected MIC.
MIC indicates that the server industry is currently still dominated by three leading branded vendors HP, Dell, and IBM and they aim to become an integrated solution provider. To cope with immense server demands and the difficulties to find appropriate branded servers that meet Facebook's needs, this is where OCP (Open Compute Project) came in. The OCP is designed mainly to reduce hardware costs and allow social networking companies to set up data centers with relatively low costs. In the hope of reducing energy consumption of server systems, as electricity cost normally accounts for the largest share of the total data center operating costs, Google aims to increase heat dissipation through a unique server rack design.
Due to a high level of customization of OCP hardware, most Taiwanese contract makers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, rather than pouring in large investments. Power efficiency and high port density have continued to be Taiwanese makers' product development priorities. Their involvement in OCP is more marketing-oriented and to increase their brand awareness.
In 2012, smaller form factor server motherboards which are designed based on the concept of maximum input and output level have been launched in order to achieve further enhancement in scalability. Overall, Taiwanese server hardware development is to continue focusing on two areas: high port density and power efficiency.
More information can be found in the following MIC report:
Server System Industry Development and Outlook for 3Q 2012
For future receipt of press releases, or more information about MIC research findings, please contact MIC Public Relations.
About MIC
Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english