According to a report by Taiwan’s Economic Daily, a trend is taking shape as computer brand manufacturers venture into the AI server market. Notably swift on this path are Taiwan’s ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and MITAC. All four companies hold a positive outlook on the potential of AI server-related business, with expectations of reaping benefits starting in the latter half of this year and further enhancing their business contributions next year.

Presently, significant bulk orders for AI servers are stemming from large-scale cloud service providers (CSPs), which has also presented substantial opportunities for major electronic manufacturing services (EMS) players like Wistron and Quanta that have an early foothold in server manufacturing. As the popularity of generative AI surges, other internet-based enterprises, medical institutions, academic bodies, and more are intensifying their procurement of AI servers, opening doors for brand server manufacturers to tap into this burgeoning market.

ASUS asserts that with the sustained growth of data center/CSP server operations in recent years, the company’s internal production capacity is primed for action, with AI server business projected to at least double in growth by next year. Having established a small assembly plant in California, USA, and repurposing their Czech Republic facility from a repair center to a PC manufacturing or server assembly line, ASUS is actively expanding its production capabilities.

In Taiwan, investments are also being made to bolster server manufacturing capabilities. ASUS ‘s Shulin factory has set up a dedicated server assembly line, while the Luzhu plant in Taoyuan is slated for reconstruction to produce low-volume, high-complexity servers and IoT devices, expected to come online in 2024.

Gigabyte covers the spectrum of server products from L6 to L10, with a focus this year on driving growth in HPC and AI servers. Gigabyte previously stated that servers contribute to around 25% of the company’s revenue, with AI servers already in delivery and an estimated penetration rate of approximately 30% for AI servers equipped with GPUs.

MSI’s server revenue stands at around NT$5 billion, constituting roughly 2.7% of the company’s total revenue. While MSI primarily targets small and medium-sized customers with security and networking servers, the company has ventured into the AI server market with servers equipped with GPUs such as the NVIDIA RTX 4080/4090. In response to the surging demand for NVIDIA A100 and H100 AI chips, MSI plans to invest resources, with server revenue expected to grow by 20% to NT$6 billion in 2024, with AI servers contributing 10% to server revenue.

MITAC ‘s server business encompasses both OEM and branding. With MITAC’s takeover of Intel’s Data Center Solutions Group (DSG) business in July, the company inherited numerous small and medium-sized clients that were previously under Intel’s management.

(Photo credit: ASUS)

Shipment of curved monitors for 1H21 was constrained by the shortage of such components as panels and scaler ICs, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. As countries begin to lift pandemic-related restrictions following increased vaccinations in Europe and the US in 2H21, consumer demand generated by the stay-at-home economy has undergone a noticeable slowdown as well. Taking these factors into account, TrendForce, therefore, expects annual curved monitor shipment for 2021 to reach about 15.6 million units, a 10% YoY increase.

TrendForce finds that curved monitor shipment for 2Q21 reached about 3.41 million units, a 6.1% QoQ decrease. Samsung once again took a leadership position with a quarterly shipment of 1.09 million units and a 32% market share. Coming in second place was AOC/Philips, which posted a 12% market share with a shipment of 410,000 units. Finally, MSI and Dell each took third place and fourth place with 10% and 8% in market share, respectively.

It should be pointed out that, SDC, the largest supplier of curved monitor panels last year, reduced their production of LCD monitor panels considerably in 1H21. As a result, brands which had heavily relied on SDC’s panel supply, including Samsung Electronics, AOC/Philips, HP, and HKC, experienced QoQ declines of 21%, 36%, 64%, and 32%, respectively, in their shipments of curved monitors for 2Q21.

Conversely, LGE, Acer, and Dell saw QoQ increases of 110%, 47%, and 38%, respectively, in their curved monitor shipment for 2Q21 against the market downtrend. These companies’ growths can be attributed to the fact that they did not adopt SDC panels for most of the models in their curved monitor lineups while SDC was the predominant supplier of curved monitor panels. LGE, in particular, did not procure panels from SDC at all. Instead, these aforementioned companies have mostly been sourcing panels from AUO or CSOT for their newly released curved monitors, meaning they will be relatively unaffected by SDC’s shuttering going forward.

For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Display Research, please click here, or email Ms. Vivie Liu from the Sales Department at vivieliu@trendforce.com

（Cover image source: Unsplash）

Yearly gaming monitor (defined as having a refresh rate of at least 100Hz) shipment reached 18.4 million units in 2020, a 105% increase YoY, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. This growth took place because monitor brands and panel suppliers poured considerable resources into this product category and because the stay-at-home economy generated a high demand for gaming monitors. TrendForce expects the gaming monitor market to remain in an upward trajectory in 2021, with a forecasted yearly shipment of about 25.9 million units, a 41% increase YoY.

TrendForce analyst Anita Wang indicates that, among the top five largest gaming monitor brands in 2020, MSI registered a remarkable 114% YoY growth in its gaming monitor shipment for the year. Although the company had primarily focused on curved gaming monitors, it began diversifying its offerings and expanding its lineup of flat IPS monitors in 2020. MSI’s 114% YoY growth far exceeded the market average and was the highest among the top five brands.

Thanks to Asus’ large-scale expansion of its gaming product lineup and an aggressive effort to procure components since early 2020, Asus’ yearly shipment of gaming monitors reached a 108% increase YoY. At the same time, Asus’ performance in the gaming monitor segment also resulted in the highest total yearly monitor shipment in the company’s history. In terms of monitor shipment (which includes both gaming and non-gaming monitors), Asus’ YoY % growth was the highest among the top 10 brands.

AOC/Philips saw a 102% YoY growth in their gaming monitor shipment for 2020, due to the high sales of their mainstream curved gaming monitors and flat IPS monitors, both of which contributed to an increase in AOC/Philips’ market share. At the same time, AOC/Philips is set to release high-end Mini LED models this year, giving them a more comprehensive monitor portfolio.

On the other hand, with regards to gaming monitor panels, SDC (Samsung Display Co.) led the field with a 35% market share in 2020. However, as SDC makes a gradual exit from the panel manufacturing business this year, the gaming monitor panel market has become a hotly contested sector for the remaining suppliers. In particular, AUO, which was ranked second in terms of market share in 2020, is expected to leapfrog its competitors and score the highest share in the gaming monitor panel market this year as it continues to expand the volume of panels that it supplies to gaming monitor manufacturers.

(Cover image source: MSI Co., Ltd.)

For more information on reports and market data from TrendForce’s Department of Display Research, please click here, or email Ms. Vivie Liu from the Sales Department at vivieliu@trendforce.com