The worldwide server market continued to grow in the fourth quarter of 2019 as revenue increased 5.1% and shipments grew 11.7% year over year, according to Gartner, Inc. In all of 2019, worldwide server shipments declined 3.1% and server revenue declined 2.5% compared with full-year 2018.

“The market returned to growth with a very strong fourth-quarter result, largely driven by a return of demand from hyperscalers,” said Adrian O’Connell, senior research director at Gartner. “However, the outlook for the worldwide server market in 2020 is subject to great uncertainty. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is expected to temper forecast growth. Although demand from the hyperscale segment is expected to continue through the first half of the year, other buying organizations’ reactions will vary.”

Dell EMC secured the top spot in the worldwide server market based on revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019 (see Table 1). Despite a decline of 9.9% year over year, Dell EMC secured 17.3% market share, followed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) with 15.4% of the market. IBM experienced the strongest growth in the quarter, growing 28.6%.

Table 1 – Worldwide: Server Vendor Revenue Estimates, 4Q19 (U.S. Dollars)

Company 4Q19

Revenue

4Q19 Market Share (%) 4Q18

Revenue

4Q18 Market Share (%) 4Q19-4Q18 Growth (%)
Dell EMC 3,986,574,446 17.3 4,426,376,226 20.2 -9.9
HPE 3,551,891,310 15.4 3,887,881,501 17.8 -8.6
IBM 2,294,258,503 10.0 1,783,691,221 8.1 28.6
Inspur Electronics 1,831,676,801 8.0 1,801,622,141 8.2 1.7
Huawei 1,488,740,004 6.5 1,815,071,726 8.3 -18.0
Others 9,860,302,857 42.8 8,186,405,788 37.4 20.4
Total 23,013,443,922  100.0  21,901,048,604  100.0  5.1 

Source: Gartner (March 2020)

In server shipments, Dell EMC maintained the No. 1 position in the fourth quarter of 2019 with 14.2% market share (see Table 2). HPE secured the second spot with 10.8% of the market. Both Dell EMC and HPE experienced declines in server shipments, while Lenovo experienced the strongest growth with a 22.4% increase in shipments in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Table 2 – Worldwide: Server Vendor Shipment Estimates, 4Q19 (Units)

Company 4Q19

Shipments

4Q19 Market Share (%) 4Q18

Shipments

4Q18 Market Share (%) 4Q19-4Q18 Growth (%)
Dell EMC 549,552 14.2 580,580 16.7 -5.3
HPE 417,699 10.8 424,422 12.2 -1.6
Inspur Electronics 296,934 7.7 293,702 8.5 1.1
Huawei 267,157 6.9 260,193 7.5 2.7
Lenovo 233,893 6.0 191,032 5.5 22.4
Others 2,113,167 54.5 1,723,032 49.6 22.6
Total 3,878,402 100.0 3,472,961 100.0 11.7

Source: Gartner (March 2020)

Full-Year 2019 Server Market Results

In 2019, both worldwide server shipments and revenue declined, with shipments falling 3.1% and revenue down 2.5%

As for vendor performance, Dell EMC took the top spot in both revenue and shipments with 20.5% market share and 16.3% market share, respectively. HPE secured the No. 2 position with market share of 17.3% in revenue and 12.3% in shipments. Inspur Electronics is the only vendor in the top five that grew in both revenue and shipments in 2019.

Additional information is available to clients who have access to Gartner’s Servers Quarterly Statistics. This database provides worldwide market size and share data by vendor revenue and unit shipments. Segments include region, vendor, vendor brand, subbrand, CPU type, CPU group, max CPU, platform, price band, operating system and distribution channel.