Last year the workstation market shrank significantly by almost nine percent. But the recovery is already underway. Despite the decline, Dell maintains its position.

According to IDC, 8.8 percent fewer workstations were sold in 2023 than the year before. The shrinkage came, and on a larger scale it is not dramatic. The market began to collapse at the end of 2022, but showed clear signs of recovery in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the fourth quarter, IDC even recorded significant growth of 6.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Correction after Corona

The problems are the same as the rest of the PC market: cautious customers and inventory problems. After the Covid-19 pandemic caused demand to skyrocket, it completely collapsed as a compensation. The result was noticeable in the form of unsold inventory in the channel. Resellers have now sufficiently reduced their excess inventory while demand is picking up again.

Although 2023 was the worst year for workstations (in percentage terms) since 2008, the future looks bright. The end of support for Windows 10 in 2025 will fuel a new wave of orders, but also demand for workstations with new CPUs and GPUs. IDC notes that despite the decline, 2023 was a better year than the last before the pandemic.

Dell Champion

Dell is the undisputed champion, consistently controlling more than 40 percent of the market. HP performed relatively well in second place, but still saw a steeper decline in sales than the market average. The last quarter of 2024 brought relief for HP. The manufacturer has a market share of around 30 percent. Lenovo is in third place with more than 20 percent, followed by smaller players with an almost negligible market share.