Global Server Market Soars 91% in 2024, Driven by AI and GPU Demand

Non-x86 servers boom in GPU-hungry hardware market

Analyst finds 91 percent revenue growth with white box makers leading the way Here's another thing AI can do: Increase revenue from selling servers by 91 percent year-over year, according to analyst firm IDC. The firm on Wednesday published data on server sales for the final quarter of 2024 and found box-makers earned revenue of $77.3 billion, up from $40.5 billion in Q4 2023. $54.8 billion of that spend went on x86 servers, a 59.9 percent increase. But revenue from non-x86 servers grew 262.1 percent year over year to $22.5 billion. Sadly, IDC hasn't said what processor resides within those boxes, but it seems a safe bet to assume much of the non-x86 spend went on Arm-powered processors using custom chips cooked up by the likes of AWS, Microsoft, and Alibaba Cloud. Sorry, IBM and SPARC fans - your preferred platform has almost certainly not made an astonishing comeback. Original Design Manufacturers - the likes of Foxconn, Quanta, and Inspur - did best, posting 155 percent growth to $36.6 billion of quarterly revenue. That's more than Dell, Super Micro, HPE and Lenovo combined. Dell led the pack with $5.5 billion of quarterly server sales, ahead of Super Micro's $5 billion, HPE's $4.2 billion and Lenovo's $3.8 billion. A Chinese vendor named IEIT Systems won $3.9 billion of server revenue. Revenue for servers with an embedded GPU grew 192.6 percent year-over-year. Across all of 2024, more than half of server market revenue came from servers with an embedded GPU. Those GPUs were almost certainly acquired to run AI workloads. "IDC expects AI adoption to continue growing at a remarkable pace as hyperscalers, [cloud service providers] CSPs, private companies, and governments around the world are increasingly prioritizing those investments," said Lidice Fernandez , group vice president for the analyst firm's Worldwide Enterprise Infrastructure Trackers. Fernandez may also have an explanation for the big non-x86 spend. "Growing concerns around energy consumption for server infrastructure will become a factor in datacenters looking for alternatives to optimize their architectures and minimize energy use," he said. The United States is the biggest market for servers, accounting for 56 percent of revenue and posting 118 percent revenue growth. China's share of server revenue grew by 93.3 percent year-over-year growth, well ahead of Japan, APAC and EMEA at 66.9 percent, 43.8 percent, and 28.2 percent respectively. Latin America was the laggard, with spending up just seven percent. ®

Global server market revenue nearly doubled in 2024 with Nvidia's continued dominance

The big picture: A new report illustrates the AI boom's transformative impact on the worldwide server market. Nvidia GPUs have formed the backbone of the technology, so it isn't surprising to see the company represent almost all embedded GPU shipments during the last quarter. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide server market revenue nearly doubled in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter in 2023. Significant growth occurred in multiple sectors, with revenue for non-x86 and embedded GPU servers roughly tripling. Overall Q4 2024 revenue reached $77.3 billion - a 91 percent annual increase and the second highest leap since 2019. Revenue from x86 servers grew by 59.5 percent, reaching $54.8 billion, while non-x86 server revenue increased by 262.1 percent to $22.5 billion. Although the IDC didn't specify what hardware accounted for the incredible growth in non-x86 spending, it likely represents Arm chips. Embedded GPU servers contributed more than half of the total market revenue growth, increasing by 192.6 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. The overall server market revenue totaled $235.7 billion, doubling since 2020. The growing popularity of generative AI, which companies like OpenAI and Microsoft train on Nvidia server GPUs, is a primary factor behind the market's explosive growth. Nvidia alone accounted for 90 percent of Q4 2024's embedded GPU shipments. The company recently unveiled its upcoming server GPU lineups: Blackwell Ultra, Very Rubin, and Feynman. It remains unclear how long the AI boom will last, as numerous controversies repeatedly revive the question of when or if a crash is approaching. Apple has struggled to enter the market, and Microsoft recently made significant AI data center expansion cuts. Still, the IDC expects governments, companies, and hyperscalers to continue increasing their investments in the technology for now. Canada saw the fastest annual server market growth at 118.4 percent in Q4 2024, while the US represented 56 percent of total revenue. China, representing a quarter of revenue, grew by 93.3 percent. Other regions with impressive growth during the same quarter include Japan (66.9%), other Asian countries (43.8%), Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (28.2% combined). The top five server vendors saw their revenue grow almost inversely to their rankings. Lenovo, in fifth place, experienced the fastest growth - 70 percent. IEIT Systems saw a 66.2-percent revenue increase, while HP and Super Micro grew by about 55 percent. Dell saw its market share shrink from 11.3 to 7.2 percent with only 20.6 percent revenue growth but retained the top position.

Worldwide Server Market Saw A Staggering 91% Year-on-Year Growth, NVIDIA Dominates GPU-Embedded Servers Market With Over 90% Share

The latest data on the Server Market has been published by IDC, revealing how profitable 2024 was for the giants. The data for the worldwide server market has been published by the International Data Corporation, revealing a staggering growth in the sector, thanks to the high demand and adoption of AI by the giants. The statistics reveal that the global server market saw a 91% growth year-on-year in 2024 compared to 2023, which is the second-highest growth rate since 2019. Such a high growth rate has resulted in the accumulation of $77.3 billion in revenue in the last quarter of 2024 and comes as a result of increased adoption of GPU-embedded servers. The market is still dominated by NVIDIA and, as per the report, NVIDIA holds over 90% of the market share in GPU-embedded servers. The company has been shipping its powerful solutions such as GB200 NVL72 to its customers. Giants such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have been active customers of the Blackwell B200 GPUs and the NVL72 platform for increased computational power. The x86 servers witnessed roughly 59.9% Y-o-Y growth in 2024 with around $54.8 billion generated in revenue. The non-x86 servers saw massive growth with 262.1% Y-o-Y even though the revenue is comparatively smaller compared to x86 servers at $22.5 billion. The non-x86 servers include specialized architectures such as ARM and RISC-based designs, crafted for AI and cloud computing, while the x86 servers are based on Intel and AMD architectures. Servers with embedded GPUs witnessed a staggering 192.6% Y-o-Y growth in Q4 2024 and generated about $235.7 billion in the whole year. This market has roughly grown by 2X compared to how big it was in 2020. That said, ODM Direct Vendors remain the major players in the market, holding about 47.3% of the total share and witnessing a 155.5% Y-o-Y growth. The revenue comes out to be $36.57 billion in Q4 2024 while companies like Dell, SuperMicro, HP, IEIT Sytems, and Lenovo follow with decent market shares as well. The region that saw the fastest server market growth was Canada with a roughly 118.4% Y-o-Y rate. The USA comes second, accumulating 56% of total revenue, and China is third with 93.3% Y-o-Y growth and taking about 25% of the total global revenue. Japan, APeJC, and EMEA also saw decent growth, with 66.9%, 43.8%, and 28.2% Y-o-Y growth, but Latin America saw the slowest growth at just 7%.