Every quarter IDC publishes market data for blade server vendors. In the past I’ve only covered the top 4 main stream vendors, Cisco, Dell Technologies, HPE and Lenovo. However, I recently came upon IDC’s full list of blade server vendors so I thought it would be good to share.
Market Share Data
This data was taken from IDC and includes blade server revenue and units sold from a time period of Q2 of 2019 to the current quarter, Q1 2021.
1, 2 and 4 Socket Blade Servers – Combined Market Share
I’ve included 4 sections: one that includes all of the data combined, then charts for 1 processor, 2 processor and 4 processor blade servers. If a cell is blank, it did not have any data. I do not have any details on what “other whitebox” or “other named” includes.
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Revenue Share (1S, 2S, 4S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| Dell Tech | 12.8% | 14.7% | 14.6% | 13.3% | 9.8% | 13.6% | 13.2% | 14.8% |
| HPE | 36.4% | 38.1% | 41.5% | 41.2% | 37.9% | 41.1% | 42.8% | 36.2% |
| Lenovo/IBM | 2.8% | 3.2% | 3.9% | 4.8% | 3.5% | 3.4% | 3.7% | 4.0% |
| Cisco | 35.5% | 35.9% | 32.9% | 31.1% | 33.0% | 33.8% | 31.7% | 36.0% |
| Huawei | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 7.3% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 1.4% |
| Inspur | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| NEC | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sugon | 1.0% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.1% |
| Groupe Bull | 1.0% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.7% |
| Other Whitebox | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.9% |
| Other Named | 1.5% | 0.8% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 1.2% | 0.4% | 1.2% | 1.0% |
| Super Micro | 3.5% | 2.7% | 2.4% | 3.7% | 5.0% | 3.8% | 3.4% | 4.9% |
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Units Share (1S, 2S, 4S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| Dell Tech | 14.1% | 16.4% | 16.7% | 18.0% | 10.9% | 16.5% | 14.7% | 17.9% |
| HPE | 35.1% | 38.3% | 38.7% | 32.0% | 30.1% | 38.8% | 37.7% | 32.0% |
| Lenovo/IBM | 5.0% | 3.7% | 4.6% | 7.8% | 3.6% | 4.9% | 6.1% | 5.7% |
| Fujitsu | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Cisco | 22.7% | 24.5% | 25.5% | 23.8% | 23.1% | 24.6% | 25.6% | 28.6% |
| Huawei | 9.1% | 7.1% | 4.6% | 5.5% | 18.7% | 5.8% | 6.1% | 2.9% |
| Inspur | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| NEC | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sugon | 2.5% | 1.2% | 1.1% | 2.0% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.4% | 0.3% |
| Groupe Bull | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2.0% | 2.6% | 2.8% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 1.5% |
| Other Whitebox | 0.7% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 1.8% |
| Other Named | 1.8% | 1.1% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 0.5% | 1.4% | 1.2% |
| Super Micro | 6.2% | 5.3% | 4.9% | 6.6% | 7.7% | 6.2% | 5.9% | 7.9% |
1 Socket Blade Server Market Share
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Revenue Share (1S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| HPE | 35.4% | 0.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% | ||||
| Cisco | 89.0% | 97.6% | 97.7% | 97.6% | 63.8% | 99.1% | 96.5% | 98.8% |
| Sugon | 7.1% | 1.3% | 1.7% | 1.9% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.2% |
| Other Named | 1.9% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Super Micro | 2.0% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Units Share (1S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| HPE | 25.8% | 0.0% | 0.9% | 0.0% | ||||
| Cisco | 85.4% | 94.1% | 93.8% | 93.3% | 70.7% | 96.6% | 90.8% | 93.7% |
| Sugon | 7.8% | 2.3% | 3.0% | 3.7% | 1.6% | 1.1% | 0.9% | 0.4% |
| Other Named | 1.3% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Super Micro | 5.5% | 3.2% | 3.3% | 3.1% | 1.9% | 2.3% | 7.3% | 5.9% |
2 Socket Blade Server Market Share
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Revenue Share (2S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| Dell Tech | 17.4% | 20.7% | 21.5% | 20.3% | 14.5% | 20.2% | 19.0% | 20.5% |
| HPE | 35.5% | 35.9% | 34.3% | 30.6% | 31.7% | 32.6% | 37.8% | 32.6% |
| Lenovo/IBM | 3.7% | 3.7% | 5.2% | 6.7% | 4.9% | 4.6% | 4.7% | 5.1% |
| Fujitsu | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Cisco | 29.0% | 30.0% | 29.3% | 30.3% | 29.2% | 32.2% | 27.6% | 31.1% |
| Huawei | 6.0% | 3.4% | 2.7% | 3.2% | 10.2% | 3.9% | 4.0% | 2.0% |
| Inspur | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| NEC | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sugon | 1.1% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.9% | 0.1% |
| Groupe Bull | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 0.5% | 0.4% | 1.0% |
| Other Whitebox | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 1.2% |
| Other Named | 2.0% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 1.5% | 1.7% | 0.6% | 1.8% | 1.4% |
| Super Micro | 2.7% | 2.7% | 2.7% | 3.9% | 4.4% | 4.0% | 3.5% | 4.8% |
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Units Share (2S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| Dell Tech | 16.3% | 19.3% | 19.9% | 21.5% | 13.0% | 20.1% | 17.8% | 21.4% |
| HPE | 35.5% | 37.8% | 36.6% | 27.4% | 27.4% | 34.8% | 35.0% | 29.5% |
| Lenovo/IBM | 5.2% | 3.9% | 5.3% | 9.0% | 4.1% | 5.6% | 6.7% | 6.5% |
| Fujitsu | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Cisco | 18.8% | 20.6% | 21.8% | 21.7% | 19.8% | 22.1% | 22.2% | 25.0% |
| Huawei | 9.8% | 7.7% | 5.3% | 6.2% | 21.5% | 7.0% | 7.4% | 3.5% |
| Inspur | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| NEC | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sugon | 2.6% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 2.3% | 1.4% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 0.3% |
| Groupe Bull | 3.0% | 2.2% | 2.5% | 3.2% | 3.4% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 1.8% |
| Other Whitebox | 0.8% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 2.2% |
| Other Named | 2.0% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 0.7% | 1.7% | 1.5% |
| Super Micro | 5.7% | 5.4% | 5.2% | 6.9% | 7.4% | 6.6% | 6.3% | 8.1% |
4 Socket Blade Server Market Share
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Revenue Share (4S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| Dell Tech | 2.2% | 1.7% | 2.4% | 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.7% | 1.7% | 1.6% |
| HPE | 38.6% | 43.5% | 54.4% | 60.1% | 50.3% | 57.1% | 53.3% | 45.0% |
| Lenovo/IBM | 0.9% | 1.9% | 1.5% | 1.6% | 0.7% | 1.1% | 1.7% | 1.4% |
| Cisco | 50.6% | 48.6% | 38.8% | 32.2% | 40.1% | 36.1% | 39.6% | 46.7% |
| Huawei | 1.7% | 1.5% | 0.7% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 0.4% | 0.1% |
| Inspur | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | |
| Sugon | 0.6% | 0.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
| Other Named | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Super Micro | 5.2% | 2.5% | 1.9% | 3.4% | 6.3% | 3.6% | 3.3% | 5.1% |
| IDC – Worldwide Vendor Units Share (4S Blade Server) | ||||||||
| 2019Q2 | 2019Q3 | 2019Q4 | 2020Q1 | 2020Q2 | 2020Q3 | 2020Q4 | 2021Q1 | |
| Dell Tech | 1.6% | 1.2% | 2.0% | 1.0% | 0.5% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| HPE | 34.2% | 43.2% | 49.6% | 55.3% | 44.7% | 57.3% | 50.6% | 45.9% |
| Lenovo/IBM | 4.2% | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2.7% | 1.3% | 2.0% | 3.8% | 2.1% |
| Cisco | 43.3% | 42.6% | 40.2% | 32.4% | 38.6% | 32.9% | 38.9% | 43.8% |
| Huawei | 5.3% | 4.3% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 4.5% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.1% |
| Inspur | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | |
| Sugon | 2.0% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Other Named | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Super Micro | 9.1% | 4.8% | 4.0% | 5.5% | 9.5% | 4.8% | 4.5% | 7.1% |
If you want a PDF of this data, please click here.
Kevin Houston is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of BladesMadeSimple.com. He has over 20 years of experience in the x86 server marketplace. Since 1997 Kevin has worked at several resellers in the Atlanta area, and has a vast array of competitive x86 server knowledge and certifications as well as an in-depth understanding of VMware and Citrix virtualization. Kevin has worked at Dell EMC since August 2011 is a Principal Engineer and Chief Technical Server Architect supporting the East Enterprise Region at Dell Technologies. He is also a CTO Ambassador in the Office of the CTO at Dell Technologies.
Disclaimer: The views presented in this blog are personal views and may or may not reflect any of the contributors’ employer’s positions. Furthermore, the content is not reviewed, approved or published by any employer. No compensation has been provided for any part of this blog.