The global Ethernet switch market generated revenue of $7.45 billion in the third quarter of 2020, up 1.9% from the same period last year, according to the report. Meanwhile, revenue from the global enterprise and service provider router market was $3.67 billion, down 2.0 percent from a year earlier.
In the third quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to have an impact on the global economy, with mixed performance across regional markets and segments. To adapt to the new business environment, businesses and service providers are making targeted technology investments. For example, a key growth area of the Ethernet switch market remains Hyperscalers, cloud providers, and communication service providers, who are investing in new technology platforms to support growing demand.
The Ethernet switch market in different geographic regions has had mixed results. In Asia, for example, the Chinese market grew 14.7% year on year, while the Japanese market grew 22.0%. But the Asia Pacific market, which excludes China and Japan, fell 0.4%, with Australia down 6.3% and Singapore up 12.5%.
In Europe and the Middle East, the results have been mixed. The Ethernet switch market in Central and Eastern Europe grew 11.4%, with Russia up 24.2% year on year and the Czech Republic up 35.9%. But western European markets fell 3.9%, with the UK (down 15.5% year on year) and France (down 13.2%) weaker. The Middle East and Africa market grew 9.7% year on year, with the UAE market up 19.0% and Qatar market up 12.7%. The Americas were also weaker, with the US Ethernet switch market down 2.0% year on year and Canada down 2.7%. The Latin American market was down 18.4% year on year, with Mexico down 17.8% and Brazil down 13.2%.
"The COVID-19 global pandemic continues to affect the global economy, and information technology procurement, including network infrastructure, is not immune," said IDC vice President of Data Center and Cloud Research. The Ethernet switch market has certainly been affected by the crisis, but some segments have proved resilient. While the overall results for the third quarter of 2020 were mixed, Hyperscaler continues to expand its high-bandwidth data centers to meet the growing demand of its users. These trends will drive continued growth in technology investment in the Ethernet switch market in a turbulent global environment."
The highest speed switching platform remains a major growth driver for the Ethernet switch market. For example, 100GbE switch port shipments grew 34.9 percent to 7.5 million, and 100GbE revenue grew 20.6 percent to $1.73 billion, accounting for 23.2 percent of total market revenue. The 25GB switch segment also saw significant growth, with revenue up 58.6% year on year to $747 million and port shipments up 51.2% year on year. Low speed non-datacenter switches are the more mature segment of the market, and port shipments and revenue performance are inconsistent as average selling price (ASP) continues to decline. 10GB port shipments grew 26.0% year on year, but revenue grew only 0.9%, accounting for 26.0% of total market revenue. Shipments of 1GB switch ports increased 1.3% year on year, while revenue declined 10.0% year on year, accounting for 34.6% of total market revenue.
The non-data center segment accounted for 56.8% of the Ethernet switch market revenue and 87.0% of port shipments. The data center segment accounted for 43.2% of total market revenue but only 13.0% of port shipments, reflecting the premium for high-speed Ethernet switching devices.
