The original report of the technology cloud.
In 2023, China's server market has undergone an intriguing change.
The interweaving of global economic fluctuations and uncertainties in the Chinese market has put unprecedented pressure on the entire server industry. According to the IDC 2023 Q4 China X86 Server Market Report, the unit shipments of China's x86 server market in 2023 will decline by 13.1% year-on-year.
However, some forward-thinking server vendors are finding new opportunities in the middle of the situation. According to IDC data, Chaoyun ranks among the top 10 in the domestic server market in terms of shipments and business revenue, and ranks first with an annual sales growth rate of 59.5%.
In such adversity, Chaoyun has run out of acceleration, strongly announcing the rise of new domestic server forces. This can't help but make people wonder, what did Chaoyun do right? Will its rapid growth reshape the server market?
Gain insight into AI trends and take the lead in intelligent computing servers
As a key infrastructure in the digital economy, the market demand for servers continues to grow. However, it is worth noting that with the changes in the macro economy and market demand, the server market is undergoing structural changes.
Compared with the weak trend of the general-purpose server market, the rapid evolution of AI technology in recent years has empowered various industries, and the demand for intelligent computing is becoming a new growth driver in the server field.
On the one hand, the state has issued more than 10 policies related to intelligent computing centers to vigorously promote the development of intelligent computing centers. On the other hand, the explosion of ChatGPT and multimodal large model technology has led to a rapid increase in the demand for intelligent computing infrastructure in various industries.
More and more users are shifting their budgets from general-purpose servers to AI servers. As a professional computing infrastructure provider in China, Chaoyun's market performance just confirms this result, and the largest increase in its business in 2023 will come from AI, and the sales volume of accelerated computing products will increase by 388% year-on-year.
In the view of Tian Feng, general manager of the Chaoyun Intelligent Computing Division, AI can create the next era of cloud computing and bring 10 times growth to the entire server market. "In 2010, cloud computing was just starting in China, when China's server market was about 20 billion yuan, and by 2023, it will reach 200 billion, and the entire market has increased 10 times. In the era of AI, we estimate that there will also be a 10-fold market growth, reaching a scale of 2,000 billion."
Tian Feng, general manager of Chaoyun Intelligent Computing Division
Under the accurate prediction, Chaoyun has already laid out the field of AI servers. From the launch of the first generation of GPU servers in 2014 to today's intelligent computing servers, the Chaoyun AI series products have evolved to the fourth generation. In response to the computing power needs of different scenarios such as AI training, inference, graphics workstations, and edge AI computing, Chaoyun has launched several series of intelligent computing products.
This kind of self-developed AI technology reserves for many years has enabled Chaoyun to win a number of leading customers from the fields of data centers, the Internet, and large models.
For example, in the artificial intelligence dedicated intelligent computing platform project of NWCD, Chaoyun provides thousands of high-performance AI servers, high-speed storage systems and AI management platforms, providing solid computing power support for the construction of NWCD's new generation of AI data centers.
Not only that, Chaoyun also has more detailed insights on AI servers.
At present, the demand for AI computing power, mainly based on large models, mainly comes from two links: training and inference. In the "100-model war" stage, various giant companies have invested large-scale computing resources, and the demand mainly comes from the "training" of large models, focusing on the performance and networking capabilities of AI servers.
With the vertical implementation of large models and the gradual maturity of AI applications, the demand for "training" of large models has also begun to shift to "inference", and enterprise customers pay more attention to the comprehensive performance of AI servers, such as computing power per unit of energy consumption, latency, and cost.
This means that enterprise AI infrastructure planning is gradually changing. According to IDC data, the market share of servers used for inference in China's data centers has reached 57.6% in 2021, and it is expected that by 2026, the workload used for inference will reach 62.2%.
Based on the needs of customers at different stages, Chaoyun builds the competitiveness of training and inference servers in a targeted manner. Especially at the inference level, Chaoyun has elevated it to the corporate strategic level, setting the goal of "the top of reasoning, Chaoyun first".
For example, in the training stage, large models face huge clusters and high costs, and the construction involves multiple links such as models, chips, and networks, and the implementation of kilocalorie clusters may encounter catastrophic problems, which seriously affect the performance of large models. At present, Chaoyun is one of the few server manufacturers in China that can provide the landing of Wanka clusters, which can well cooperate with customers to do a good job in networking and performance tuning, and improve the training performance by up to several times.
In the inference stage, Chaoyun has made great efforts to adapt a number of domestic open source models and some commercial models, and directly provide customers with high-performance inference machines corresponding to large models after parameter tuning through localized deployment, which is a speed that few manufacturers in the industry can match.
At the same time, in response to technical problems such as software and hardware separation, no professional computer room, and difficulty in capacity expansion, Chaoyun has also jointly launched an AI large model training and pushing all-in-one machine with partners, which accelerates the training process of large models through the high-performance hardware base and optimized architecture of the all-in-one machine, improves training efficiency, and supports the needs of a variety of AI large model scenarios.
Tian Feng, general manager of the Chaoyun Intelligent Computing Division, said that how to improve the energy efficiency of training and inference products is one of the key points of the development of Chaoyun AI servers. To this end, Chaoyun also pioneered two model indicators to measure AI servers: training-price ratio, which can convert price input into performance; The training-efficiency ratio can convert energy input into performance, so that customers can clearly see the energy efficiency and input-output ratio of AI servers.
It is this kind of refined product capability that makes Chaoyun's AI server extremely competitive in the market. At a time when the demand for AI computing power is blowing out, Chaoyun has achieved batch delivery of AI servers worth more than 100 million yuan, providing strong computing power support for customers' business implementation.
Layout in advance, leading the innovative technology of information innovation and liquid cooling
Nowadays, intelligent computing is not only a test of the performance of AI servers, but also a test of green energy saving. As the demand for AI servers rises and power consumption increases, liquid cooling technology has become the next bright spot in data center technology innovation.
According to IDC data, China's liquid-cooled server market will grow rapidly in 2023, reaching $1.5 billion, a year-on-year increase of 48.6%. The liquid-cooled server market is expected to reach $10.2 billion by 2028.
Unlike many server manufacturers who have only invested in liquid cooling technology in the past two years, Chaoyun realized the value of liquid cooling very early on, and began to lay out in advance in 2019, initially based on the technical system of supercomputing for exploration, and with the rise of AI trends, the research focus soon shifted to liquid cooling AI technology.
Based on keen industry insights, Chaoyun has chosen the cold plate and immersion liquid cooling technology routes from the very beginning.
When other manufacturers are still discussing the cold plate structure, Chaoyun has already possessed mature cold plate technology, and has launched a series of products such as cold plate liquid-cooled servers, liquid-cooled servers and liquid-cooled micromodules.
In terms of immersion liquid cooling, Chaoyun has established a joint laboratory for thermal control of electronic equipment with Beijing University of Chemical Technology and Zhejiang Institute of Chemical Technology to develop new liquid cooling materials to minimize the cost of immersion liquid cooling and realize localized substitution as soon as possible.
In addition, Chaoyun also participated in the compilation and release of two standards, "Liquid Cooled High-Performance Computer Technology Reference Architecture" and "Technical Requirements for High-Performance Computer Immersion Liquid Cooling System", which fill the gap in the design, development and application of liquid cooling technology in the field of high-performance computers, and provide an important reference for the design of cold plate and immersion liquid cooling architectures and technologies.
According to Tian Feng, general manager of the Chaoyun Intelligent Computing Division, through the Chaoyun liquid cooling product, the PUE of the newly built data center is up to 1.09, and the systematic average figure has also achieved the effect of less than 1.2.
When a domestic Internet giant built a future-oriented data center, it planned a liquid-cooled data center with Chaoyun, and users found that Chaoyun's liquid cooling technology can better play the performance of servers and make the data center energy efficient and efficient, so it started with a pilot project from a small computer room and eventually expanded to the entire data center.
At present, the first data center liquid cooling project of a leading technology retail company in China also adopts Chaoyun's liquid cooling products, and Chaoyun is the only selected server manufacturer, so it can be said that Chaoyun liquid cooling has been fully recognized by end users from the product to the technical level.
It is this leading technical capability that gives Chaoyun enough confidence to compete head-on with leading server manufacturers. IDC data shows that Chaoyun will strongly rank among the top 6 in China's liquid-cooled server market share in 2023.
If AI and liquid cooling are the two pillars that support the rapid growth of Chaoyun's business, then Xinchuang is the "third carriage" of Chaoyun's steady and sustainable growth.
With the acceleration of new infrastructure and the policy support of the information and innovation industry, Chinese enterprises are paying more and more attention to the ability to control infrastructure independently.
In the field of information innovation, Chaoyun adheres to the development strategy of independent research and development and multi-core diversification, and provides full-stack products including Feiteng, Loongson, etc., to meet the needs of various application scenarios. In addition, Chaoyun has also established strategic cooperation with domestic GPU companies such as Huawei Ascend, Kunlun Core, Moore Threads, Cambrian, and Tiantian Zhixin to strengthen its layout in the field of domestic AI servers.
With strong self-research and ecological construction capabilities, Chaoyun can optimize the information innovation server from the bottom of the hardware to meet the information innovation requirements of different industries such as finance, education, and government. At the same time, through the accumulated supply chain capabilities of Xinchuang, we provide users with more cost-effective Xinchuang products.
Differentiated competition, Chaoyun rises strongly
Michael Porter proposed in the book "Competitive Strategy" that emerging companies can often create the uniqueness of products or services and achieve market differentiation through technological innovation, which is a subversion of the traditional competitive landscape. This differentiation is not only reflected in product characteristics, but also may change industry standards and create new market demands, thus bypassing the existing advantages of large companies and opening up their own market space.
The market performance of Chaoyun is a strong proof of its differentiated competition. From the earliest participation in the competition of the general server market, to the later leading the competition of AI servers, information innovation servers, and liquid-cooled servers, each time Chaoyun has opened a new market through technological innovation, which has not only met the new needs of the market, but also brought explosive growth of its own business. In the words of Tian Feng, general manager of the Chaoyun Intelligent Computing Division, "We are looking for opportunities at every stage, and once we seize the opportunity, we will go to a higher level."
If you carefully study the differentiating advantages of Chaoyun, you will find that it is not only a unique skill of technological innovation, but also forward-looking product concepts, good ecological cooperation, and strong organizational capabilities, which are all important factors that constitute its competitive advantage.
First, green and energy-saving. This is the product concept that Chaoyun has been following since its birth, running through the whole chain of product design, R&D, and technological innovation. Under the national "double carbon" strategy, energy saving and consumption reduction for data centers as much as possible has become one of the core advantages of super cloud servers.
Second, value-added engines. Chaoyun focuses on hardware platforms, and will provide more ISV companies with the hardware they need through mature and flexible methods such as all-in-one machines and brand licensing, which not only helps partner companies improve their profits, but also increases their own customer stickiness.
Third, professional computing power. In response to the needs of these market segments, Chaoyun has been paying close attention to and formulating targeted strategies, playing an increasingly important role in these emerging fields, and exerting its own competitive strength in continuously meeting the needs of segmented scenarios, such as power inspection, etc., becoming the first in the segmented industry.
Fourth, intelligent acceleration. Chaoyun has seized the opportunity of AI and has launched several series of intelligent computing products, and at the same time is far ahead in AI inference and training tuning capabilities, thus gaining a large number of new customers and achieving faster business growth than the industry.
Fifth, act fast. Based on customized business, Chaoyun quickly pulls up the company's series of strength from front to back, and truly realizes 24×7 hours to respond to customer needs, customization is no longer a matter of the project, not a few people or a department, but the label of the whole company, and the principle and belief of teamwork.
After seeing the background color of Chaoyun, it is not difficult to understand why Chaoyun can still achieve "counterattack" in a complex market environment and sit firmly in the first echelon of domestic server brands.
At the "2024 Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Summit and Chaoyun New Product Launch Conference" held on May 10, Chaoyun launched a series of new products of AI intelligent computing, liquid cooling and information innovation, once again showing the outside world what is called "super-cloud speed".
Riding the "troika" of AI, liquid cooling, and information innovation, Chaoyun has shown its flexibility and tenacity different from the giants as a challenger, not only withstanding the cold market winter, but also achieving remarkable rapid growth.
Like a ship full of sails, Chaoyun rides the wind and waves, moves forward bravely, and seeks new breakthroughs in every challenge.
【About Technology Cloud Report】
Focus on the original, enterprise-level content expert - science and technology cloud reporting. Founded in 2015, it is one of the top 10 media in the cutting-edge enterprise IT field. It has been recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and is one of the official designated communication media for large-scale events such as Trusted Cloud, Data Expo, National Cyber Security Week and Global Cloud Computing. In-depth original reports on cloud computing, artificial intelligence, large models, network security, big data, blockchain and other enterprise-level technology fields.
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