Worldwide server shipments for the third quarter were up 8.7 per cent on last year, reaching 2.2 million units.

Revenue hit $13.4bn (£6.5bn), a rise of 2.6 per cent, according to Gartner.

Current turbulence in financial markets has failed to make an impact, said senior analyst Errol Rasit.

"Underlying market dynamics such as growth from emerging markets, coupled with an ongoing demand for increased capacity, are stronger than any inhibitors such as server virtualisation," he said.

"Any implications from financial market instability were not visible in the server market in the third quarter."

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Hewlett-Packard (HP) led the market in terms of revenue and server shipments.

Total EMEA server vendor revenue rose 5.9 percent to $4.1bn (£2bn), as shipments totalled 645,497 units, a 12.8 percent increase.