Asian server market up 22% led by HK, China
Topping the list were Hong Kong and China with growth rates of 68 percent and 52 percent respectively, followed by Singapore (27 percent), Taiwan (18 percent), India (8 percent), Australia (3 percent) and Korea (3 percent).
However, the market research firm cautioned that unit shipments in Asia Pacific also registered a "sharp decline" of 12 percent from the fourth quarter of last year (see Table 1).
"All in all, the quarter past was a tough one," said Dataquest regional server program manager Matthew Boon in a statement.
According to Boon, the drop from the fourth quarter was fairly severe as many corporations, particularly in regional centers like Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, delayed purchase decisions as they waited to see if the slowdown would be a protracted one.
India emerged as one of the more stable markets in the region--the only country to register growth on a quarterly and yearly basis. "Clearly, the signs that India is set to take off are there in the form of continued growth quarter-on-quarter while the rest of the region contracted," explained Boon.
Singapore too improved on a quarter-to-quarter perspective. "This increase can be attributed to continued spending in Internet operations, mainly within the finance and telco sectors, which has helped stave off a real decline in shipments during quarter one," noted Suzie Low, Gartner's senior industry analyst for Hardware Platforms in Singapore. "In addition, as Singapore's largest IT user and spender, the government has also continued to invest in and upgrade its IT infrastructure."
Much of China's performance, meanwhile, was attributed to Chinese Intel-Architecture (IA)-based server manufacturers like Legend, LangChao, Founder and Great Wall.
Looking forward, continued growth will depend on whether signs of a US recovery begin to appear. "Once this happens, we can expect to see the region's server sales take off as corporations of all sizes get back on with the task of their continuing IT infrastructure build-outs," predicted Boon.
On vendor performance, Dataquest noted that while IBM, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard continued to take the top three vendor spots in the region, the number one spot went to Big Blue (see Table 2).
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Table 1
Asia Pacific Server Unit Shipments (all servers) 2000/2001
| Shipments Q1 '00 | Shipments Q4 '00 | Shipments Q1 '01 | Growth Q4 '00 to Q1 '01 | Growth Q1 '00 to Q1 '01 | |
| Total AP market | 111,164 | 155,334 | 136,104 | -12% | 22% |
| Singapore | 4,354 | 5,466 | 5,527 | 1% | 27% |
| China | 34,964 | 64,170 | 53,052 | -17% | 52% |
| Korea | 15,090 | 15,602 | 15,507 | -1% | 3% |
| Australia | 13,907 | 16,734 | 14,323 | -14% | 3% |
| India | 10,898 | 11,076 | 11,728 | 6% | 8% |
| Taiwan | 9,848 | 12,132 | 11,609 | -4% | 18% |
| Hong Kong | 4,530 | 8,638 | 7,618 | -12% | 68% |
Table 2
Top Asia Pacific Server Unit Shipments (all servers) 2000/2001
| Vendor | Market share Q1 '00 | Market share Q4 '00 | Market share Q1 '01 | Growth Q4 '00 to Q1 '01 | Growth Q1 '00 to Q1 '01 |
| IBM | 18% | 17% | 18% | -5% | 18% |
| Compaq Computer | 18% | 19% | 16% | -31% | 9% |
| Hewlett-Packard | 18% | 16% | 15% | -17% | 5% |
| Dell Computer | 5% | 9% | 9% | -15% | 50% |
| Sun Microsystems | 4% | 5% | 6% | 2% | 38% |
| Legend | 5% | 6% | 5% | -37% | 23% |
| LangChao | 3% | 5% | 5% | -14% | 46% |
| Acer | 7% | 5% | 4% | -27% | -3% |