Strong Demand for 25 Gbps Ethernet Adapters Propelled the Market to Highest Revenue in 3Q 2020, According to Dell’Oro Group

Nvidia Gained Share on Large Purchase by Chinese OEM

In a newly published report by Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for information about the telecommunications and networking industries, strong demand for 25 Gbps Ethernet adapters propelled the market to the highest revenue of $638 million in 3Q 2020. Furthermore, we believe Nvidia gained share on a one-time sale of Ethernet controllers and adapters sufficient to satisfy the multi-year demand of a Chinese OEM, which we presume to be Huawei, ahead of its sourcing ban from US vendors.

“More than 3.3 million of 25 Gbps Ethernet controllers and adapters ports were shipped in 3Q20, surpassing the previous record set in the prior quarter, with strong demand from Tier 1 China-based Cloud SPs and Tier 1 server OEMs as they embraced the technology,” said Baron Fung, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “However, shipments of 50 Gbps Ethernet controller and adapter ports declined from the prior quarter as some of the Tier 1 Cloud service providers have entered a digestion cycle and reduced server deployments,” added Fung.

Additional highlights from the 3Q 2020 Ethernet Controller and Adapter report include:

• Total Ethernet controller and adapter port shipments increased eight percent quarter-over-quarter.

• Shipments of 100 Gbps ports grew quarter-over-quarter to 425 K ports, an all-time-high, to support the growing demands of accelerated computing.

• Amazon commanded 73 percent revenue share of the Smart NIC market in 3Q 2020. Broadcom led the Ethernet adapter vendors in port shipments, followed by Marvell and Nvidia.

Source: Dell'Oro Group media announcement