From EETimes: The increased demand for cloud computing and high-density microserver systems has brought the server market back from a state of decline, and drawn battle lines between Intel on the one side and ARM, AMD, and a half-dozen other companies on the other.
“We’re seeing fairly significant change in the server market, which is the unsung workhorse of the internet,” said Rob Lineback, senior market research analyst at IC Insights. “Their role is increasing as far as importance as a result of cloud computing.”
According to the 2014 IC Market Drivers report, server unit shipment growth will increase in the next several years, thanks to purchases of new, cheaper microservers. New microservers are being targeted at a wider range of datacenter applications and cloud-computing platforms. Intel is currently in a struggle with a number of processor suppliers looking to develop new 64-bit server MPUs with cores designed by ARM.
“Intel, as far as microprocessor supplier for servers, has been the market leader for x86 processors in the server market, with just over 85% of the market,” Lineback said. “AMD serves that market, but they have been fading a bit, and there are about a half-dozen or so companies that have been trying to get the ARM processors in their microservers.” Lineback reiterated that there is an effort to develop 64-bit ARM servers, but that right now Intel is the leading company. “They’re trying to respond to the threat of the ARM processors moving into the server market by introducing Atom-based microprocessors.” Lineback noted that Applied Micro, Samsung, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Marvell, and TI are trying to get into the server market. “There are quite a few companies trying to jump in and provide solutions for the next generation of data."
Following two consecutive years of 2% annual sales declines, the total server IC market is projected to rise by 3% in 2014 to $14.4 billion, according to the report. Over the course of the five-period between 2012 and 2017, the server IC market is expected to see an increase of about 1% to $15 billion in the final year of the projection. The report further states that the multicore MPU segment for microservers and NAND flash memories for solid state drives are expected to see better numbers -- and both are featured in a growing number of servers.
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