Worldwide factory revenue for the high performance computing (HPC) technical server market increased by 8.4% in full-year 2011 to reach a record $10.3 billion, up from $9.5 billion in 2010, according to the newly released International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide High-Performance Technical Server QView. The 2011 results exceeded IDC's forecast of 7.2% year-over-year revenue growth.

Unit shipments in 2011 declined 6.9% year over year as average selling prices grew, indicating a continued shift to large system sales. IBM and HP ended the year in a statistical tie for leadership with 32.6% and 32.1% of overall factory revenue market share, respectively. (Note: IDC declares a statistical tie in the worldwide server market when there is less than one percent difference in the factory revenues of two or more vendors.)

The brightest spot was the "Supercomputers" segment for HPC systems selling for $500,000 and up, which jumped 24% to reach revenues of nearly $4.4 billion during a year of continuing worldwide economic recovery. At the other end of the price spectrum, revenue from "Workgroup" HPC systems sold for below $100,000 fell 4% to $1.2 billion as buyers continued to delay or cancel some planned acquisitions in this segment that is characterized by purchases based on shorter sales cycles and more discretionary spending. These results reflect a continuing, dramatic shift of HPC technical server revenue share toward the Supercomputers segment.

"HPC technical servers, especially Supercomputers, have been closely linked not only to scientific advances but also to industrial innovation and economic competitiveness. For this reason, nations and regions across the world are increasing their investments in supercomputing even in today's challenging economic conditions," said Earl Joseph, program vice president for Technical Computing at IDC.

IDC expects the HPC technical server market to grow at a healthy 7% to 8% yearly rate to reach revenues of $13.4 billion by 2015.

Vendor Highlights

• IBM had an exceptionally strong year, achieving 19.3% revenue growth over 2010.
• HP revenue increased by a robust 9.6%, enabling the company to tie IBM for HPC market share leadership.
• Dell grew revenue by 2.1% and maintained its number three position with nearly 14.5% market share.

The IDC Worldwide High-Performance Technical Server QView presents the HPC market from various perspectives, including by competitive segment, vendor, cluster versus noncluster, geography, and operating system. It also contains detailed revenue and shipment information by HPC models.