The High Performance Computer (HPC) market has defied the credit crunch due to its popularity in the public sector, according to analyst IDC.

Factory revenue and unit shipments for the HPC technical server market grew by 10 per cent sequentially in the second quarter of 2008, according to IDC's Worldwide High-Performance Technical Server QView.

The report suggested that government and university buyers have longer-term budget cycles that are not immediately impacted by economic slowdowns.

In addition, the report also highlighted that many organisations are still investing in R&D to improve their competitiveness in the current economic climate.

Revenues shot up 10 per cent compared to 1Q08 and 4 per cent compared to the same period last year, reaching $2.5bn for 2Q08.

Shipments of server system units in 2Q08 were down 5 per cent from 1Q08 at 45,000.

Earl Joseph, IDC programme vice president for HPC, said: “Powered by their price/performance advantage, clusters now dominate all segments of HPC market.

“IDC projects that the HPC server market will grow at a compounded annual rate (CAGR) of 9.2 per cent to reach $15.6bn in 2012. Continued strong growth of the HPC market is being driven primarily by clusters and newer processor technologies.”

According to Jie Wu, research manager for technical computing at IDC, the 2Q08 HPC server revenue leaders were HP with 37 per cent market share, IBM with 27 per cent, and Dell with 16 per cent.