Supermicro is a company that makes computer hardware for data centers, desktops, and laptops. It also designs, develops, and manufactures storage subsystems and builds low-cost advanced technology yet reliable server boards.
Founded in 1993 by Charles Liang and Henry Lam, Supermicro has grown to become one of the most prominent players in the global I.T. infrastructure market. The company’s headquarters are located in San Jose, California, with manufacturing facilities worldwide, including China, the USA, and Taiwan.
Supermicro’s servers power many of today’s cutting-edge supercomputing clusters and cloud computing networks, including those at Google, Facebook, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company ships over 160 million motherboards annually to more than 100 countries worldwide.
Supermicro’s innovative SuperServer is the key to its success. The company has been a pioneer in the server market since it started, releasing some of the world’s first servers based on 64-bit microprocessors, including Opteron and Xeon, as well as the world’s first dual-processor server boards. The products have become very popular because they can be easily integrated with existing I.T. infrastructures such as storage, memory, and networking equipment while delivering high performance at a low cost.
In addition to its server products, Supermicro has also developed a line of network switches and rackmount storage devices aimed at small and large business customers requiring reliable networks or rapid data access.
Supermicro is the world’s top 1 server motherboard supplier and the 6th largest P.C. motherboard supplier. The company has a manufacturing capacity of over 5 million motherboards per month, offering customers flexibility. Supermicro’s customers can choose from an array of customized products tailored to their exact specifications and buy standard products directly through the company’s website. The company also features prominently on Amazon and other retailers’ and distributors’ websites. Its products are sold through over 100 resellers worldwide.
Products and Services
Supermicro offers a wide range of offerings, including high-end servers, network switches, and rack mount data storage devices for businesses, institutions, and consumers worldwide.
Supermicro’s latest boards include:
SuperMicro differentiates its products through:
Supermicro’s high-quality products have been awarded several awards, including:
Supermicro’s customers include many big-name corporations such as:
SuperMicro has also received various awards for winning multiple green computing design and manufacturing awards. The company has won the following awards for its industry-leading designs, which have resulted in lower power consumption and reduced carbon footprint:
As of December 31, 2016, Supermicro had 54 employees in California and 1,860 employees in the rest of the world. The breakdown of employees by location is as follows:
In June 2015, Supermicro merged with Silicon Valley-based partner VIA Technologies Inc. Supermicro was renamed Supermicro Computer Inc. As of January 2017, over 6,000 employees worldwide.
Supermicro was founded by Charles Liang and Henry Lam in 1993. Both men were former Silicon Graphics engineers who had worked on the Altix line, the first successful x86 workstation from SGI in 1992. The pair combined all the knowledge of their SGI experience with that of SCC’s DEC AlphaServer, which would become Supermicro’s first product. Supermicro shipped its first server boards in 1994. It became one of the first vendors to offer server boards with x86 microprocessors and an x86 motherboard based on an integrated processor card (IPC).
In 1999 Supermicro was granted U.S. Patent #6,870,352 for the first dual-processor server board. Soon after, Supermicro introduced its first 64-bit processor boards and motherboards with Slot 1 and 2 form factors, respectively. Supermicro became the first motherboard vendor to offer an eight-channel PCI Express low-power chip card for its server boards in 2003. The company also shipped the world’s first Xen virtualization solution using a NanoServer motherboard in 2006.
