TIBURON, Calif.—September 20, 2006—The string
of good news continues for vendors serving the workstation markets, with the
second quarter of 2006 yielding 22.9% growth in units and 15.9% for revenue. Jon
Peddie Research has completed its quarterly market tabulations for both
workstations and professional graphics as part of the latest installment of its
Workstation Report series.
Workstation vendors shipped roughly 619 thousand
workstations, accounting for about $1.5 billion in revenue. Results for the
closely coupled professional graphics market were even stronger, with units up
37.3% to 869.1 thousand and revenue up 15.4% to $284.1 million.
Market share for Dell and Intel Xeon had been on the
decline … but Q2 may start reversing that trend.
Dell held on to its top position as workstation vendor, with
a 41% market share (units). And Intel stayed dominant as the primary platform
supplier, represented in roughly 92% of machines shipped. Both market leaders
had been losing ground to competitors in previous quarters, with Dell trailed
closely by HP, and Intel dogged by AMD and its Opteron processor.
But the fortunes of the big two may have begun to turn
around in the second quarter. In the first half of ’06, Intel released its
long-awaited Woodcrest (Xeon brand) processor and Glidewell platform, finally presenting
a strong answer to AMD’s Opteron, especially in higher-end, multi-socket
applications.
“A good chunk of Opteron’s growth in workstations had been
coming at Intel’s expense,” said Alex Herrera, JPR senior analyst and Workstation
Report author. “But the worst looks to be over for Intel, as the new generation
Xeon platform appears to be holding on to market share.” Of course, where
Intel’s fortunes go, Dell’s often follow. The workstation volume leader’s share
also kicked back up a bit in Q2, the first increase in many quarters.
AMD’s Opteron is by no means stalling in the marketplace,
however, benefiting from the continued migration away from legacy, proprietary
RISC platforms. Opteron is now shipping in nearly 4% of workstations, with Sun
and HP accounting for the vast majority of systems shipped.
Professionals are spending more on higher-end graphics
The overall numbers for Q2 show the fundamental strength of the
professional graphics, but JPR’s findings also uncover many subtle
undercurrents, one of which is a significant shift in how dollars are being spent.
Bucking the typical tendency for customers over time to expect to pay less and
get more, professional buyers are forking over more dollars to get their hands
on a slew of new high (over $950) and ultra-high (over $1,500) products introduced
recently. Where the high and ultra-high segments comprised only about a quarter
of total add-in card revenue two years ago, in Q2’06 they accounted for roughly
one half.
Nvidia is both the instigator and primary beneficiary of
this trend. Nvidia shipped 72% of all units, with ATI second at 24.4%. But more
significantly, thanks to its attention to the high-end segments, the company has
grown its share of revenue to a commanding 82.7%.
|
Class |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
|||||
|
Q3CY04 |
Q4CY04 |
Q1CY05 |
Q2CY05 |
Q3CY05 |
Q4CY05 |
Q1CY06 |
Q2CY06 |
|
|
2D |
22.0% |
23.5% |
24.7% |
15.7% |
20.6% |
19.8% |
19.1% |
16.7% |
|
Entry |
17.0% |
16.2% |
14.0% |
15.3% |
12.6% |
11.5% |
14.2% |
12.8% |
|
Mid-range |
32.3% |
26.1% |
21.8% |
34.7% |
28.9% |
26.9% |
23.1% |
19.5% |
|
High + |
28.7% |
34.2% |
39.4% |
34.3% |
37.8% |
41.8% |
43.6% |
50.9% |
|
Total |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |