Global rack power distribution unit (rPDU) market revenue is set to decline by 3.3 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19 inspired delays in enterprise spending and disruptions in the component supply chain.
After near double-digit growth in 2018, rPDU market revenue was largely unchanged in 2019, as cloud and colocation data center service providers absorbed new data center capacity, according to the Omdia Rack Power Distribution Unit Market Tracker. At the beginning of 2020, the market was expected to reaccelerate to annual growth of 4 percent. However, the world changed in 2020 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic as did the outlook for the rPDU market.
Enterprises now are pushing back their plans to spend on new equipment as demand has been dampened by the impact of COVID-19. Moreover, these companies are facing issues obtaining adequate supplies of parts due to pandemic-related component shortages.
The networked rPDU market will face the brunt of the downturn, with the area more negatively impacted than basic rPDUs.
“COVID-19 is heavily impacting market segments whose fortunes are tied to energy, including retail, transportation and oil and gas—with a full recovery unlikely for several years,” said Vijendra Krishnamurthy, senior analyst, cloud & data center, at Omdia. “However, there are plenty of reasons for optimism, with demand from cloud service providers (CSPs) and colocation data centers expected to increase in 2020 and 2021. This increase is due to rising demand related to remote working and home entertainment, initially caused by government stay-at-home orders, but expected to continue afterwards.”
Furthermore, enterprises seeking to delay capex investments are using cloud services as a temporary substitute for bringing new applications or additional compute capacity online. There are also opportunities in the healthcare industry as enterprises look to invest in digital infrastructure to handle future health crises. Education is another area where new opportunities have arisen to support remote learning.
For the rPDU market, a recovery is expected to begin in the second half of 2020 that will become more pronounced in 2021. This is forecast to materialize in rPDU market revenue growth of 4.7 percent in 2021 compared to 2020. Asia is forecasted to grow the fastest followed by the Americas, while the recovery in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is forecast to be relatively slower.
Additional rPDU highlights from the Omdia rPDU Market Tracker Forecast Update report include:
- Networked rPDU market revenue is forecast to decline 4.4 percent and basic rPDU revenues to decrease by 1.1 percent in 2020.
- Enterprise rPDU market spending is forecast to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2020, with certain enterprise segments declining by double digits.
- Cloud and colocation service provider rPDU spend is forecast to grow in the low-single digits in 2020.
- rPDU market revenues are forecast to return to 4.7 percent growth in 2021, with Asia and the Americas growing at higher rates and EMEA at lower rates.
- The global rPDU market is forecast to have a 2018 to 2023 five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7 percent.
