China boosts Asian server sales
The country's strong showing in server shipments for the second quarter keeps the region's growth up despite a slump in some key Asia-Pacific markets.
According to a Gartner/Dataquest report, server shipments to the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) in the second quarter of 2001 grew 7 percent to 143,499 units, from 133,994 units in the same period a year ago.
The strongest growth came out of China, which saw its server market grow 26 percent year on year. Between April and June this year, 59,331 units were shipped, compared with 47,251 units last year.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis, Asia's server market grew 4 percent in the second quarter (from the first quarter in 2001), while China's grew 12 percent. However, these were still far lower than last year's growth figures for the corresponding quarters--20 percent for Asia and 35 percent for China.
"Although China's server market has slowed due to economic conditions, the sheer size of the market there is keeping the demand growing," Australia-based Dataquest analyst Matthew Boon said in a telephone interview.
But things are far from rosy for some key markets in the region. "We have seen the U.S.-led malaise impact Europe; clearly we are now seeing this impact some of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region more than others," Boon said in a statement.
He added that although businesses are purchasing servers, "There is still a real air of caution out there."
"We have seen a continuation of the reluctance of corporations to make large-scale server purchases," he said.
In Singapore, the server market took a heavy beating, as shipments took a 23-percent year-over-year dive. A total of 4,630 servers were shipped on the island in the second quarter, compared with 5,994 units during the same period in 2000.
In Hong Kong, there was strong year-over-year growth of 25 percent but a slight 2-percent jump quarter to quarter.
Taiwan was hit the worst, with server shipments falling 28 percent in the second quarter from a year ago. Shipments were down 11 percent from the previous quarter. Server shipments in India grew 8 percent year on year but fell 13 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis.
Staff writer Nawaz Marican reported from Singapore.