May Server Shipment Forecast Lowered by 3.09%P
"Investment to Focus on AI Servers Instead of General Servers"
There is a forecast that this year's global server shipments may decrease more than previously expected. This is due to factors such as reduced demand in China amid the global economic recession.
On the 16th, market research firm TrendForce announced that this year's server shipments are expected to decrease by 5.94% compared to last year. Although it initially predicted a 2.85% decline in May, it has lowered the forecast by 3.09 percentage points in three months.
TrendForce explained that in lowering the figures, they based their assessment on "various economic issues such as Meta's second-quarter demand decline and sluggish domestic demand in China." The world is facing significant pressure from inflation.
They also pointed out that "while cloud service providers (CSPs) are focusing on investments in artificial intelligence (AI), this situation is unintentionally leading to budget pressures related to existing server shipments, affecting the market."
A market recovery is expected next year. TrendForce previously forecasted that global server market shipments would increase by 2.3% in that year. They anticipate that while traditional server investments will remain sluggish, AI server shipments will increase.
TrendForce expects this year's AI server shipments to reach 1.183 million units, a 38.4% increase from last year. They also predict annual growth rates in the mid-to-high 20% range for 2024 (1.504 million units), 2025 (1.895 million units), and 2026 (2.369 million units).
The increase in AI server shipments is favorable news for the domestic semiconductor industry. This is because high-performance, high-capacity DRAM such as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is used in AI servers. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix hold a 90% market share in HBM (according to TrendForce).
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