IDC: Dell leads server market driven by AI infrastructure needs

Despite tariffs and parts shortages, the server market reached a record $125.3 billion dollars in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by the accelerated investment in AI Infrastructure, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker. As has been the case for some time, hyperscalers and cloud service providers are the ones driving demand while the traditional on-premise segment remain cautious on their spending path, IDC stated. Geopolitical issues were concerned before the war with Iran erupted and will undoubtedly play a greater role in Q126 numbers. The more pressing issue is the volatility in short supply of certain components such as GPUs, DRAM, and SSDs, according to IDC. IDC says some companies have been trying to secure prices ahead while the industry is accommodating to the new reality. The impact could be hitting harder during 2026 as demand keeps outpacing offering capacity in the near term. Server sales for the quarter showed a year-over-year (YoY) increase of 52.4% in vendor revenue compared to the same quarter of 2024. Revenue from x86 servers increased 16.9% in 2025Q4 to $69.8 billion while non-x86 servers increased 146.4% YoY to $55.5 billion. Q4 revenue for servers with an embedded GPU grew 59.1% year-over-year, representing more than half of the total server market revenue. For calendar year 2025 the market finished growing 80.4% compared to 2024, reaching a yearly record of $444.1 billion dollars revenue. Dell Technologies clearly leads the OEM market with $12.5 billion in total revenue share, accounting for 10% of total sales. IDC attributed this to outstanding growth on accelerated servers. Supermicro was in second place with $11.7 billion or 9.5% revenue share by growing triple digit also on accelerated servers. IEIT Systems and Lenovo statistically tied for the third position in the market with 4.1% and 4.0% share respectively while Hewlett Packard Enterprise finished in the fifth position in the market, with just $3.8 billion, or 3.1% share. And that was on an 8.6% decline from the $4,24 billion the prior year, according to IDC. The HPE decline reflects a change in strategy on HPE’s part, according to Lidice Fernandez, IDC group vice president, worldwide enterprise infrastructure trackers and Americas data & analytics team lead. “They have repositioned around edge computing, hybrid IT, and mission-critical systems rather than competing directly in the high-volume x86 segment where they once dominated,” Fernandez said. There are other factors affecting HPE as well, including the rise of Dell into a systems powerhouse, Lenovo making its own moves, enterprise customers increasingly making purchases based on overall technology stack, where Dell’s broader portfolio was advantageous, and hyperscale cloud providers custom-designing their own servers, reducing market opportunities, according to Fernandez. Regarding the ever-increasing component shortage, Fernandez said price increases are affecting shipments. “So we are expecting to see a slowdown in shipments and an increase in average prices throughout the year,” Fernandez said.