Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s x86 server division is being seen as a major disruption in the OEM server market. And indeed, based on the current Top500 figures, it’s easy to realize the impact. In last November’s list, the number of IBM machines accounted for about one third of the total number of systems, the same as HP. In terms of combined performance, this represents 32% of the total power, versus 16% for HP. Now, let’s take a look at x86 computers. They account for approximately 77% of the machines on the list, but only 34% of the cumulative power. BlueGenes and other amply-sized Power-based systems are indeed the ones with the most powerful configurations.

The result is that by buying IBM’s x86 server business, Lenovo is acquiring a choice position at the top of the chart. All other things being equal, Lenovo would come in second place behind HP, with 25% of the listed systems, but would drop to fifth place in terms of overall performance. How things will play out remains to be seen. Although Lenovo’s know-how is unquestionable, the fact that it is not American could cause it to lose some public and private contracts in the US.