EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This Intersect360 Research report presents the 2024 total market size and five-year forecast for the overall market for enterprise high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). In this report, the market is segmented into vertical markets. Market sizing is given in U.S. dollars for 2023 and 2024, with a five-year forecast horizon through 2029 and compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) using 2024 as a base.
At the top level, Intersect360 Research tracks total data center infrastructure, segmented into accelerated, parallel computing segments (the “AI market”) and non-accelerated segments. The AI-focused accelerated computing portion is segmented into five categories: hyperscale AI, AI-focused cloud service providers, national sovereign AI data centers, HPC-AI (non-cloud), and enterprise AI (non-HPC, non-cloud). Two additional non-accelerated segments—hyperscale and enterprise—complete the market. The detailed forecast for these data center segments is given in the Intersect360 Research report, Worldwide Data Center and AI Infrastructure 2024 Total Market Size and 2025-29 Forecast: Accelerated and Non-Accelerated Computing Segments, published as part of this forecast report series.
This report analyzes the market for HPC-AI and enterprise AI across a broad range of industry verticals, including both on-premises infrastructure and cloud computing. It captures spending on HPC and AI applications by sector, extending beyond infrastructure segmentation to provide a detailed view of how adoption varies across academic, government, and commercial domains. Beyond the infrastructure spending in the top-level data center segmentation, this report includes spending on cloud computing for HPC and AI applications, which is omitted from the data center infrastructure to avoid double-counting.
In general, the HPC-AI market includes multi-node, networked systems or cloud instances running parallel applications, which require a focus on performance or scalability in some dimension (e.g., processing, memory, I/O, networking), plus associated storage, software, networks, services, and other necessary components. The market size does not include spending on internal budget items such as power consumption or staffing, which are tracked in separate surveys.
Intersect360 Research reports available in this series include the following segmentations of the HPC-AI and enterprise AI market:
- Products and Services: servers, storage, networks, software, service, cloud, other
- Vertical markets: academia, national security, national research labs, national agencies, state or local governments, bio sciences, chemical engineering, consumer product manufacturing, electronics, energy, financial services, large product manufacturing, media and entertainment, retail, transportation, other (presented both with and without hyperscale as a vertical market)
- Regions: Americas, EMEA, Asia-Pacific
- Server class (HPC-AI server revenue): entry-level, midrange, high-end, supercomputer
The HPC-AI and enterprise AI segments combined grew 24.1% to reach $60.1 billion in 2024. Since virtually all HPC-using sites are also investing in AI as part of a merged infrastructure or budget, this blended segmentation represents the enterprise (non-hyperscale) “AI market.” Growth was broadly distributed across vertical markets, with commercial sectors leading the expansion.
Belying the larger, global boom in AI spending, the HPC-AI and enterprise AI market will see uneven years in the five-year forecast, beginning with a down year in 2025, when the market is expected to decline by 4.5%, to $57.4 billion. This market contraction is due to a reduction in federal grants for academic research and in certain national agency funding in the U.S. In contrast, commercial sectors are expected to maintain momentum, even during market dips.
Through 2029, vertical market spending will grow at a 6.3% CAGR, with commercial industries remaining the primary engine of expansion. Emerging use cases—especially in smaller “other commercial” categories—may redefine future segmentation as AI becomes increasingly embedded across sectors.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary – 2
Table of Contents – 4
Introduction – 6
Vertical Markets Definitions – 6
The “AI Market”: Accelerated, Parallel Computing – 8
Data Center Segment Definitions – 9
What Are HPC, AI, and Hyperscale? – 11
The HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market – 13
The AI Boom – 13
HPC-AI and Enterprise AI: Product and Services, 2024 vs. 2023 – 13
Table 1: HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market ($M), 2024 vs. 2023, by Economic Sector – 15
Table 2: HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market ($M), 2024 vs. 2023, by Vertical Market – 15
Figure 1: HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market ($M), 2024, by Vertical Market – 16
HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Forecast, 2025-29: Vertical Markets – 17
Table 3: HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market ($M), 2023-24 Actual, 2025-29 Forecast, by Sector – 17
Table 4: HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market ($M), 2023-24 Actual, 2025-29 Forecast, by Vertical Market – 18
Figure 2: HPC-AI and Enterprise AI Market ($M), 2023-24 Actual, 2025-29 Forecast, by Vertical Market – 19
Conclusions – 20
Appendix A: Methodology – 23
Appendix B: HPC, AI, and Hyperscale: Definitions and Interdynamics – 25
What are Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning? – 25
What is HPC? – 27
What is Hyperscale? – 27
What Makes Hyperscale “Hyper”? – 28
Hyperscale and Business Computing – 29
Hyperscale and HPC – 29
How Hyperscale is Unique – 31