Hua Er Jie Jian Wen·2025-09-04 00:23Core Insights - The AI server manufacturing industry is experiencing significant revenue growth but facing shrinking profit margins due to high costs of NVIDIA chips and intense market competition [1][4][6] - Major companies like HPE, Dell, and Supermicro are reporting a troubling trend of "increased revenue without increased profit" [4][6] Group 1: Company Performance - HPE reported a Q3 revenue increase of 18% to $9.14 billion, with earnings per share of $0.44, but its server division's operating margin fell from 10.8% to 6.4% year-over-year [1][4] - Supermicro's revenue surged by 46.59% year-over-year in Q4 2025, yet its gross margin declined to 9.7% [4][5] - Dell's gross margin decreased from 22% to 18.7% year-over-year in Q2 2026, attributed to pricing pressures in the AI server market [4][5] Group 2: Market Dynamics - The AI server market is characterized by a significant reliance on NVIDIA's high-performance GPU chips, which dominate the cost structure and limit OEMs' pricing power [3][6] - NVIDIA holds a commanding 98% market share in the data center GPU market, allowing it to maintain a non-GAAP gross margin of 72.7%, vastly outperforming server manufacturers [4][5] Group 3: Structural Challenges - High component costs, particularly for NVIDIA GPUs, are a primary factor pressuring server manufacturers' profits, with reports indicating a loss of $1 for every $7.9 in AI hardware revenue [6] - Intense competition among server manufacturers has led to aggressive pricing strategies, further eroding already thin profit margins [6] - Complex supply chain management and additional logistics costs to meet urgent AI component delivery demands are increasing operational costs for manufacturers [6]