HPC Market Shows Growth

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Factory revenue and unit shipments for the High Performance Computing (HPC) technical server market exhibited 10% growth in the second quarter (2Q08), according to IDC's Worldwide High-Performance Technical Server QView. Revenues grew 10% over the first quarter* and 4% compared to the same period last year to reach $2.5 billion in the second quarter. Shipments of server system units in the 2Q08 HPC market totaled 45,000, down 5% from the first quarter.

The second quarter saw solid growth in the mid and high end of the market and softness in lower priced x86 servers, as evidenced by average selling prices (ASPs) that were up 16% compared to 1Q08. According to Jie Wu, research manager for technical computing, the 2Q08 HPC server revenue leaders were HP with 37% market share, IBM with 27%, and Dell with 16%.

"Powered by their price/performance advantage, clusters now dominate all segments of HPC market. In addition, the HPC market is seeing a shift towards fatter nodes as multicore technology becomes pervasive. This is also driving requirements for larger and faster memories, along with improved interconnection technologies," said Earl Joseph, IDC program vice president for HPC.

IDC