Market and Technology Trends

Computing for Datacenter Servers 2021

By Yole Intelligence — Dec 2020

Popular data-intensive applications and the spread of AI applications are boosting server computing market to reach US$33B in 2025.

BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND POWER CONSUMPTION, SPECIALIZATION OF CHIPS IS ONGOING

In this report, Yole Développement (Yole) describes significant developments in Integrated Circuits (IC) for datacenter server computing. Between new opportunities and requirements brought by 5G, high-end AI and HPC computing workloads, and growing pressure to limit and in fact reduce power consumption, this market is facing many technical challenges. Yole Développement describes the benefits and pitfalls of the various types of IC, with a focus on CPU, GPU, and Programmable Logic Processors such as FPGAs and AI accelerators. The dynamics and outcomes of technology trends such as workload specialization and unit integration are analyzed in detail. From one side the share of specialized chips such as GPU, PLP and accelerators is increasing, and from another side more and more units are integrated into a single chip to address more workloads. Artificial Intelligence algorithms are driving both of these trends, with dedicated accelerators but also and dedicated units integrated into each type of chip. Dedicating the computing to a specific type of algorithm through faster and more energy-efficient chips is a central trend, which is leading either to the use of dedicated chips such as FPGAs and accelerators or to the integration of specialized units into other chips. This market is studied from 3 perspectives in this report.

BOTH LARGE VOLUME APPLICATIONS AND HIGH-END APPLICATIONS ARE BOOSTING THE IC SERVER MARKET

On the one hand, this market has been boosted by large-volume demand with the digitalization of companies, an existing trend which was boosted even more by Covid-19, as well as by consumer applications, such as social networks and media applications. These two data-intensive applications rely heavily on video streaming which requires intensive computing capabilities, while they also put pressure on bandwidth. This is leading progressively to a new network organization which is less centralized and closer to the edge.
On the other hand, high-end applications using High-Performance-Computing (HPC) and the spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in every vertical are requiring more and more capabilities.

And today most of the AI training and a still important portion of AI inferences are done in large datacenters. Yole’s analysts expect the associated revenues will grow with a CAGR of more than 10% in the coming years, reaching a total of $33B in 2025.

A FEW BIG GIANTS ARE FIGHTING FOR A STAKE WORTH BILLIONS IN A TECHNOLOGICALLY AND STRATEGICALLY GROWING MARKET

There is fierce competition between a few IC giants in this field. They are becoming less and less specialized in only one type of chip, and are rather developing comprehensive solutions for the server market, addressing all the main types of functions. The strategy of the biggest players is no longer to sell discrete chips, but to provide customers with entire platforms dedicated to their needs. These comprehensive solutions are being built through many acquisitions, including multi-billion-dollar acquisitions between major players, such as the acquisition of ARM by Nvidia ($40B, September 2020) and the acquisition of Xilinx by AMD ($35B, October 2020). The M&A strategies of Intel, Nvidia, and AMD are discussed in detail in the report, including a recap of their acquisitions during the period 2015-2020. The datacenter is not only a key market for big companies, but it is also a question of sovereignty for countries, which is leading to strategic geopolitical perspectives.

Key features of the report

Datacenter application trend and impact on device market
Market forecast 2019 – 2025 by type of IC, units, revenues and associated ASP
Technology segmentation and associated trends
CPU, GPU, Programmable Logic Processors and AI accelerators technology description and key products analysis
Cloud computing description and analysis
Impact of technology transition in datacenter business such as 5G
Impact of rising constraints such as power consumption
Ecosystem description from foundries to final application
M&A, strategy analysis and competitive landscape of key players
Geostrategic analysis
Market forecast 2019 – 2025 by type of IC, units, revenues and associated ASP
Technology and Trends : GPU, PLP and AI accelerators

Objectives of the report

Contribute to the understanding of the impact on computing chips which can be found in datacenter servers, of key markets, such as cloud computing, enterprise digitalization, social and media, AI training and AI inference.
Offer technical insights and analysis of main computing hardware units involved in such operations: Central Processing Unit (CPU), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), Programmable Logic Processors, (PLP) such as FPGAs and AI accelerators which are a specific type of Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC).
Provide a scenario for computing in this dynamic market and present an understanding of the impact of both high-level workloads, including AI and HPC, and massive volume tasks such as video streaming. Associated forecast with technology breakdown for both volume and revenue are provided.
Deliver an in-depth understanding of the ecosystem and main players’ strategies.

Do you have an account?

Search