Taiwanese Server System Shipment Volume Is Estimated at 117.2 Million Units in 4Q2013, Up 7.5% Sequentially

Thursday 30 January 2014, Amsterdam

According to analysts shipment volume of Taiwanese server systems topped about 109 million units in the third quarter of 2013, up 3% sequentially. Shipment value, however, slipped 6.8% sequentially to around US$1.14 billion owing to changes in product mix and stable adoption curve of the new platform.

Several factors led to the sequential growth of server systems in the third quarter of 2013. The first factor to note is that branded vendors adopted a new marketing strategy to launch several entry-level models for the small businesses or SOHO (Small Office Home Office) in the Middle East and India and the strategy worked well. In the second half of 2013, businesses have begun speeding up this year's budget spending and the demand for server systems rose steadily as a result.

White-box servers currently are still shipped mainly to tap demand of large network operators. Owing to unique specs, white-box servers have problems to entirely interoperate with existing equipment and therefore small and medium sized businesses are reluctant to introduce white-box servers and most of them still prioritize branded server solutions.


Shipment performance in 2013

Shipment volume of the server industry did not live up to expectations and the industry suffered from 1.6% sequential decline. In the second half of 2013, Taiwanese makers have been quite optimistic about server shipments as enterprises have been trying to spend the rest of the year's budget before the year ends. Coupled with the replacement demand of old for new servers and the anticipated growth in emerging markets, shipment volume of the Taiwanese server system industry is estimated at 117.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, up 7.5% sequentially; the industry's shipment value is anticipated to be US$1.22 billion in the same quarter, up 6.9% sequentially. Nonetheless, regardless of the stable growth in shipment volume of servers in the second half of 2013, the full-year shipment of Taiwanese server industry in 2013 is estimated to be weaker than that in 2012 due in part to the sluggish shipment performance in the first half of 2013. As a result, the full-year shipment volume of the Taiwanese server industry in 2013 is projected to remain at the level similar to or slightly better than the previous year.