Driven by strong demand from US and China CSPs, 2026 AI server shipments will surge. Key drivers include NVIDIA and Google's ASICs, accelerating liquid cooling adoption. While general server refresh cycles aid growth, supply chain lead times remain a potential bottleneck.
TrendForce combines its expertise in the Foundry/Server industry and leverages it with the supply chain to accurately estimate AI chip shipments, AI Server application ratios, AI major suppliers' analysis, and the adoption of AI memory.
Looking to 2026, sustained AI infrastructure build-outs will drive server demand. High CAPEX from North American CSPs supports NVIDIA's new platforms and ASICs. While Tier-2 risks exist, robust major CSP demand boosts ODM AI revenues and cements the critical role of liquid cooling solutions.
The global server market is expanding, driven by robust AI infrastructure investments from CSPs and a general server replacement cycle. Major tech giants like Alibaba, Oracle, and Google are increasing capex and deploying next-gen GPU platforms to meet soaring AI computing demands.
Memory price surge continues into 1Q26, pushing BOM cost to a critical point. Brands freeze price cuts and downsize specifications, facing severe sales challenges.
Soaring memory prices increase system costs and retail prices, hurting the consumer market. TrendForce thus lowered 2026 shipment forecasts for smartphones, notebooks, and game consoles. Game console makers may abandon price cuts due to costs, shifting to high-price, profit-preserving strategies.
The report shows AI-driven demand reshaping the server market, with cloud and enterprise deployments accelerating, core focus on GB rack solutions and all-in-one enclosures, and partnerships to strengthen supercomputing and data-center ecosystems, with growth momentum expected to persist.
This report notes AI investment drives cloud and server demand as CSPs and OEMs expand capex and deployment, with in-house chips advancing.
AI servers lead growth; cloud build-outs lift ODMs/thermal. AMD ramps; TPU up; shift to L2L cooling. Supply chain heat-up end to end.
Global AI server market stays strong as major cloud providers expand infrastructure and platforms; GPU and self-developed ASIC demand rises amid regional dynamics.