According to IDC global Q2 2013 high performance computing (HPC) technical server revenues are up by 7.9% Y-o-Y to around $2.6 billion, with growth fueled by sub-$250000 and sub-$100000 system sales.
Shipments total 31441 units with 34.7% Y-o-Y growth (or -6.2% Q-o-Q decline).
The above results contrast with those of the overall Q2 2013 server market, which according to the latest IDC numbers declined by -6.2% Y-o-Y to $11.9 billion due to soft server demand across most geographical regions.
The analyst says systems at $250000+ price points were hit "especially" hard by the global economic recession, causing the postponing or cancellation of many purchases, but recovery kicked off during Q1 2013.
The sub-$100000 Workgroup segment is the brightest spot of Q2 2013, with revenues growing by 45.1% Y-o-Y to $414.7 million. The Departmental ($100000-249000 price band) segment is up by 33.8% Y-o-Y to revenues worth $928.3m, while the Divisional segment ($250000-499000) grows by 29.4% Y-o-Y to $349.2m.
Together the Workgroup, Departmental and Divisional segments account for 65.7% of overall Q2 2013 HPC server revenues.
The high-end Supercomputer segment ($500000+) segment makes 34.3% of the Q2 2013 market, with revenues dropping to $883.2m.
"The top half of the HPC market, especially supercomputer systems sold for $500000 and up, expanded rapidly right through the global economic recession and experienced record-setting growth in 2012," IDC says. "We did not expect the supercomputers segment to maintain that steep growth curve in 2013, although there will be other growth periods in the future. In Q1 and Q2 2013 revenue growth has shifted to sub-$250000 systems as the lower half of the market continues to rebound from the global economic recession."
HP and IBM lead the market, with 30.1% and 29.7% revenue share respectively. Dell comes 3rd with 14.6% share, while Bull, Dawning and SGI make "strong" Y-o-Y revenue gains, as do several small vendors combined in the "others" category.