Workstation Report single issue – Professional Computing Markets and Technologies

Workstation report series – Professional Computing Markets and Technologies

Q2’24’s solid workstation growth affirms the tumult of 2020-2023 has subsided
By Senior Analyst and JPR Workstation Report author, Alex Herrera

Overall, approximately 1.98 million branded workstations shipped in Q2’24, of which Tier 1 suppliers accounted for around 1.87 million. Tier 1 shipments rose 11.4% in the quarter year over year (11.0% sequentially). The results support the notion that the market has finally — after several years of atypical market forces — returned to a more tempered, organic growth pattern.
It’s a scenario eventually expected, according to JPR Workstation Report author and senior analyst Alex Herrera.

“Most interestingly, the figures result in an overall market CAGR from Q2’19 to Q2’24 at around 4% overall,” Herrera explained. “That means, the market has now, for the most part, reached the levels it would have likely, hypothetically arrived at had the pandemic — along the market boons and drags it triggered — never transpired. And it’s likely the future will look a bit more like pre-pandemic times.”

Providing the most comprehensive look at the workstation market available, the JPR Workstation Report delves into breadth and depth across all slices of the workstation and professional GPU markets, including:

• Complete breakdown of traditional workstation market by units, revenue, platforms, key components, verticals, geography, and vendors
• Workstation market forecast
•  Complete breakdown of workstation GPU market by units and revenue, across product classes (including integrated graphics) and vendors

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• Table of Contents
• Market highlights 2
  • Q2’24 2
  • Calendar 2023 3
• Q2’24’s solid workstation growth affirms the tumult of 2020-2023 has subsided, as the market settles at historically sensible levels 3
  • The market mix of fixed versus mobile workstations: still in flux or the new normal? 4
  • The recent pandemic-fueled surge in mobiles and corresponding dip in fixed machines 6
  • The pandemic-shifted mobile majority: transient or permanent? 7
    • The mobile workstation still shipping in excess of its pre-pandemic pace, suggesting a
      permanent change in the market’s mix 7
    • Will fixed sales ever catch up? 8
  • Overall market close to hypothetical long-term run-rate … suggesting today’s mobile-to- fixed ratio is the new normal 9
• Workstation volume by model type and class 13
  • The pre-2023 fixed model class segmentation 13
    • The Super Single Socket (SSS) era of high-core count multi-chiplet 1S processors trigger a shift in fixed market segments 15
    • 2023 and beyond: evolving the fixed workstation market segments 17
  • Fixed workstation market segment metrics in Q2’24 19
  • The transition — in part or in full — of traditional 2S workstations to Ultimate (1S) models
    • Ultimate (2S) market share logically continuing to slide 21
  • Sub-entry fixed models — more Creator PC than workstation — are plumbing the low end
    and blurring lines … but adoption has been limited 23
• Mobile workstation market segmentation 24
• Datacenter workstations 31
• Workstation component and configuration metrics 33
  • Workstation OSes: Windows (Pro and Pro for Workstations) vs. Linux 33
  • Base workstation platforms / CPUs 35
    • AMD is back in the workstation CPU game with Ryzen Pro and Threadripper Pro 35
    • Things have changed, as AMD now offers a broad range of workstation-caliber CPUs
    • With the full DHL trio on board with Premium models built on Threadripper PRO,
    • AMD’s market share on a growth path 36
    • Ryzen Pro making Tier 1 progress as well, in both fixed and mobile segments 36
  • Intel still the dominant CPU supplier, but AMD applying pressure across the board 36
    • Xeon had taken majority share from Core in fixed workstations, but the script has
      flipped dramatically … and Intel is (at least for now) OK with that 36
    • Sapphire Rapids (finally) arrived to reinforce the Premium class and drive the Ultimate class
    • 2S (dual socket) CPU market share essentially all Xeon Scalable 42
    • Core now responsible for 100% of Intel’s share of mobile workstation CPUs, but AMD’s
    • Ryzen Pro is growing 42
  • GPU attach rates: professional discrete vs. consumer discrete vs. integrated 43
  • ECC memory attach 45
• What truly qualifies as a workstation, anyway? 47
  • A litmus test for the modern workstation 47
  • The Creator PC: pushing the bounds of a branded workstation 48
  • Fixed Creator PCs versus fixed workstations: the gray area of Entry and Sub-Entry models
  • Notebook Creator PCs vs. mobile workstations 51
  • Maybe it really is a 50/50 mobile/fixed market? Adjusting for Creator PC systems 53
• Vendor market share 55
  • Differences in vendor shares by platform fading 56
• Apple and its “workstations” 57
• Workstation revenue and ASPs 58
  • Mobile vs. fixed revenue 59
  • Fixed unit and revenue distribution by price tiers 59
  • Mobile unit and revenue distribution by price tiers 62
• Workstation shipments by vertical 64
• Shipments by geography (Tier 1 only) 66
  • Overarching trends in geographic distribution 67
  • Mobile vs. fixed distribution by global geo 67
  • Dell global leadership is due — virtually solely — to its US dominance 70
  • Dell challenging HP for leadership in EMEA 71
  • Lenovo ticks back up in APexJ 72
  • Shrinking Japan market also an HP-Dell dead-heat 73
  • ROW tips a bit to HP as of late 74
  • EMEA distribution by sub-region: some new high and low marks among sub-regions 75
    • MEA and Iberia the sub-region growth stories 75
    • Mobile vs. fixed: EMEA sub-region breakdown 76
    • Workstation vendor shares per EMEA sub-region (Tier 1 only) 78
  • APexJ distribution by sub-region (Tier 1) 78
    • APexJ anchor China slowing its growth, with volume contracting 78
    • Lenovo the undisputed leader in China, quite sensibly so, while HP making strides 80
    • Dell and HP both gaining in India at Lenovo’s expense … though Lenovo stabilizing 81
    • Rest of ApexJ vendor distribution 81
    • Mobile vs. fixed: APexJ sub-region breakdown 82
• Full-year calendar 2023 results for workstations 83
• Outlook on the workstation market 86
  • Market prospects in a vacuum: why workstations — in some form — should remain a healthy market for as far as we can see 87
  • Has the pandemic permanently increased the number of mobile-exclusive workstation users? 90
    • Are mobile workstations as desktop replacements a market boon or not? 91
      Some market drags to consider 91
    • The bottom-line forecast 93
• Professional GPU shipments in Q2’24 also suggest a resumption to more “normal” market
  conditions 95
  • A modest majority for mobile GPUs 95
  • Intel in the game with Arc Pro … volume a trickle so far 96
• Professional discrete add-in GPU units and revenue, by price tier 97
  • Effective Q4’23: expanding visibility into the fixed, add-in GPU volume per price band 97
  • Viewing the price bands: bucketing individual SKUs versus the continuum of price vs. volume 99
  • The Mainstream segment now outsells Entry in unit volume … for good reason 100
• Professional discrete GPU vendor shares per segment: virtually all Nvidia everywhere 101
• Discrete consumer and CPU-integrated GPUs on workstations 102
• Full-year calendar 2023 results for discrete workstation GPUs 105