White-box server ODMs such as Quanta Computer and Wiwynn saw their shipments to datacenter operators account for more than 38% of the global total server shipments in 2020, up 8pp from that in 2017, and the percentage is expected to rise further to 46% in the first half of 2021, according to Digitimes Research's latest figures from the Server Tracker.

The growth in the proportion has been driven by increasing orders from Amazon and Google to satisfy their demand for servers supporting remote working, cloud computing and e-commerce services.

The two firms' order pull-ins began turning strong in the first quarter with their shipments standing a chance of growing more than 18% sequentially in the second quarter thanks partly to the release of new CPU platforms, Digitimes Research forecasts.

Demand from Chinese datacenter operators has also been growing as China has managed the coronavirus pandemic rather well, while many government policies are meant to encourage datacenter operators to establish more cloud computing and telecom infrastructures in a bid to boost the local economy.

Order pull-ins from China-based datacenter operators are expected to rise 15% sequentially in the second quarter.