China keeps Asia server market afloat
According to a Gartner Dataquest report, server shipments to Asia Pacific in the second quarter of 2001 grew 7 percent to 143,499 units, from 133,994 units a year ago.
The strongest growth came out of China, which saw its server market grow 26 percent year-on-year. Between April and June this year, 59,331 units were shipped in while 47,251 units were shipped during the corresponding period last year.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis, Asia's server market grew 4 percent in the second quarter (from the first quarter in 2001), while China's grew 12 percent. However, these were still far lower than last year's growth figures for the corresponding quarters--20 percent for Asia and 35 percent for China.
"Although, China's server market has slowed due to economic conditions, the sheer size of the market there is keeping the demand growing," Sydney-based Gartner Dataquest regional server program manager Matthew Boon said in a telephone interview.
But things are far from rosy for some key markets in the region. "We have seen the US-led malaise impact Europe; clearly we are now seeing this impact (on) some of the countries in the Asia Pacific region more than others," Boon said in a statement.
He added that although businesses are purchasing servers, “there is still a real air of caution out there", and "we have seen a continuation of the reluctance of corporations to make large-scale server purchases”.
In Singapore, the server market took a heavy beating as shipment took a 23 percent dive in the second quarter this year, from the same period last year.
Between April and June this year, 4,630 units of servers were shipped in the island compared with 5,994 units during the same period in 2000.
In Hong Kong, there was strong year-on-year growth but the SAR's quarter-to-quarter figure was less than impressive. The server market there grew 25 percent year-on-year, but hit a mere 2 percent in quarter-to-quarter performance.
Meanwhile, Australia registered a flat growth year-on-year. Nevertheless, the Aussie market did not stay down under for long. It grew 22 percent in the second quarter of 2001 compared with the previous quarter.
In other markets, Taiwan was the worst hit--server shipment fell 28 percent in the second quarter, compared with the corresponding period in 2000. Compared with the first quarter, shipment fell 11 percent. Server shipment in India grew 8 percent year-on-year but fell 13 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis.
Server shipments in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) by units
| Markets | Q2 2001 | Q1 2001 | Q2 2000 | Percentage Growth (QoQ) | Percentage Growth (YoY) |
| Asia Pacific | 143,499 | 137,734 | 133,994 | 4 | 7 |
| China | 59,331 | 52,747 | 47,251 | 12 | 26 |
| Australia | 17,432 | 14,344 | 17,413 | 22 | 0 |
| Korea | 15,569 | 17,210 | 16,717 | -10 | -7 |
| Taiwan | 10,275 | 11,609 | 14,179 | -11 | -28 |
| India | 10,257 | 11,728 | 9,513 | -13 | 8 |
| Hong Kong | 7,765 | 7,618 | 6,209 | 2 | 25 |
| Singapore | 4,630 | 5,527 | 5,994 | -16 | -23 |