Market Scenario 

Mainframe market was valued at US$ 4,059.99 million in 2024 and is projected to hit the market valuation of US$ 7,241.13 million by 2033 at a CAGR of 6.64% during the forecast period 2025–2033.

Mainframes are powerful, large scale computing devices acclaimed with their reliability, speed and security in dealing with large transaction volumes. They are becoming popular as a result of globalization, digitalization and increased need for continuous data processing. Wherein, some of the noteworthy changes and improvements made after 2022  in the mainframe market are AI resource optimization and better cyber security shields. In 2023, 600 major banks were using the mainframe for core banking applications. Today, the new generation of encryption systems can process more than 1.2 million instructions every second. Also in 2023, the average mainframe has a single system with a capacity of 60 Terabytes, more than 3 million line of COBOL code are modernized and hardware reliability put system lifespan to be as high as 15 years. 

 There are clear reasons why enterprises prefer mainframes, including the global expansion of e-commerce and increasing regulatory compliance. These systems in the mainframe marketfeature tremendous processing power and scalability, which is more than just to meet today’s workloads. In 2024, about 800 businesses will commence the usage of AI-infused analytics together with mainframes that are capable of conducting 2.5 million operations every second. Mainframes will be able to process 3 billion transactions daily across international commercial banking by the year 2024. Four new lightweight models have been introduced by major vendors and 200 new APIs were developed for multi-platform orchestration by top 5 development platforms. At this point in time, the average enterprise buys 12 security patches each year. 220 large scale projects will deploy quantum- safe encryption while 100 universities will offer integrated courses on mainframe technologies by 2024.

The latest innovations in containerization combined with DevOps tools and hybrid cloud extensions have increased the flexibility of mainframe market, creating greater demand. In 2024, the yearly average mainframe downtime can be as low as 2.1 minutes which on its own points to the strength of the technology. In addition, mainframe-based identity systems use between 750 million and 900 million identities per day, which shows the dependence on secure distributed systems is on the rise. Such trends, together with further modernization, eliminate operational constraints and make ROI more favorable for enterprise-class companies. Other factors such as inflation and transformed workforce support the qualities of robust and high-performance systems. Business agility has led many organizations to realize the beauty of cost performance in terms of mainframes in the context of rapid changes in the industry. This combination of dependability with innovation ensures the strategic importance of mainframes in delivering founding global infrastructures. 

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Market Dynamics 

Driver: Rising need for large-scale transaction processing and real-time analytics across global critical industry infrastructures

Businesses globally, now a day, experience an avalanche of communication reaching across multiple geographies, payment channels and networking systems. This number continues to increase exponentially in the mainframe market, and in this environment, Mainframes excel in both performing space and reliability. One of their most defining capabilities lies in handling billions of credit card transactions on a daily basis, ensuring businesses can process payments without interruption or latency. The additional performance that a supercomputer gives a financial institution, also allows them to do billions of data computations in real time for analytical or fraud detection purposes of multiple retail and finance businesses. Enterprises, especially in banking and healthcare, rely on mainframes to manage massive record-keeping tasks, including census data processing and comprehensive secure database client profile management.

In the present economic reality, there is no denying that globalization has taken over the world, and with that global e-commerce has reached new heights with that the need for processing transactions in bulk is at an all-time high and that has only accelerated the digital revolution. Mainframes excel in such unpredictable environments by sustaining a steady throughput performance even in the event of an increase in volume of operations which partly explains the fact that they operate continuously in the government and airlines sectors.

Real-time analytics have become the go to option in the mainframe market and now competitive decision-making needs to be quicker than ever, acting in real time rather than relying on previous data. With the use of mainframes, and the insight they provide, they serve executives in a number of ways for real time modeling to transaction validation. Such characteristics have made enterprises utilizing manifold transactions breathtakingly valuable. With the expansion of all borders, organizations need to have flexibility in new digital technologies while still maintaining performance along with data security. 

Trend: Hybrid cloud implementations bridging legacy mainframe systems with agile, modern, decentralized cloud-native design approaches

Due to the numerous disparities that exist between cloud and on-premise solutions, hybrid strategies have gained massive popularity among organizations seeking to optimize their IT capabilities in the mainframe market. On one hand, mainframes are vital for businesses as they maintain a plethora of business important processes, on the other hand, the combination can prove to be extremely beneficial especially when the core system for transactions reach billions. This is because it permits businesses to offload some of the workloads to cloud based microservices while continuing to perform crucial operations on the mainframes. Core banking systems can benefit tremendously with this combination because it permits them to preserve the main focus on advanced data capabilities in both the internal and external infrastructure. Furthermore, reaching billions of transactions on a daily basis only further optimizes the system to use real time analytics engines.

Firms adopting this strategy are able to consolidate the age-old trustworthiness of mainframes and the broad ranging availability of resources of the cloud providers. A key case in point is linking up raw data from mainframes to cloud based AI for seamless insight on consumer ending behavioral patterns or even fraud detection. Simultaneously, these hybrid cycles in the mainframe market support high intensive workloads that are load guaranteed, which is the fundamentals that support businesses on a 24/7 basis as is the case with mainframe installations. After that, the retail sector, aviation or travel industry as well as the telecom business are able to quickly serve many transactions, transfer information to cloud services and fully comply with regulations at the same time. Certainly, census level processes are handled when mainframes are utilized - which goes a long ways into confirming their - capabilities in carrying out large volume data processing on diverse platforms.

Challenge: Shortage of skilled mainframe professionals as aging workforce retires without sufficient replacements available globally.

The gaps in programming, coding processes or even software engineering knowledge are troubling for the advancement of technology on the mainframe market. It is highly needed as technological evolution takes its toll on educational institutions. Succession planning in terms of skilled professionals is often lacking as those that possess of the know-how specialize and cater to growing markets. As opposed to the transnational measures, which overhaul and retrograde the economic sphere seven simple measures, such as hiring even one specialized individual, proves to be the best course of action. It must be noted that mainframe computers continue to be integral for banks, governmental institutions, and multi-national corporations. In fact, it is estimated that up to 90%of transactions made via credit cards originate from a mainframe. Companies need to fill in the gaps left by this technology in order to be competitive, hence the dire need for skilled personnel. Organizations simply cannot afford to lose out on the wins, so the need for professionals that are able to bridge the gaps is pivotal and growing in the mainframe market.

Should businesses fail to recruit suitable candidates, they would face slower updates for critical operations coupled with an increase in the security risk factor while being reliant on the dwindling pool of professionals. Numerous recent reports suggest that the combination of AI driven services and hybrid cloud architecture would require experts that possess the skillset to support traditional mainframe environments with modern development toolchains. In order to interlink the gaps between generations, adequate training and education is of utmost importance otherwise enterprises risk facing slumped revenues. Subsequently, many government and business leaders are developing actionable programs for the younger generation to better the understanding of mainframe technologies. 

Segmental Analysis 

By Product Type 

By product type, system segment controlled more than 49% revenue of the mainframe market. In the first half of 2023, 900 new Z Systems were delivered to hospitals and banks, and IBM declared a steady need for secure and very fast computers. In the same vein, Fujitsu disclosed the installation of 850 GS Series units by data-centered companies within the same period showing remarkable confidence in mainframe growth. Unisys, on the other hand, reached up to 300 ClearPath Dorado proposals and deployments displaying the system’s performance in critical business operations. These numbers indicate a market showing acceleration towards the adoption of next generation mainframe systems characterized by low latency, increased virtualization and improved interoperability with hybrid clouds which are essential to the sustainability of the mainframe market.

Diverse global corporations that necessitate consistent uptime have high regards for Z systems as they are perceived to be highly reliable. A transportation company stated that using advanced Z system hardware, they achieved only 2 minutes of unplanned downtime in a span of six months indicating the resiliency of the platform. E-commerce stores further, illustrate the consistency of service during high traffic seasons, with over 2 billion state-wide transactions with GS Series mainframes on more than a hundred stores since this January. Other than dedicated hardware accelerators even high level of encryption provides the perfect tools in highly sensitive information, further showcasing the need across various sectors. 

In today’s era the need for cybersecurity is on the rise, this can be backed by the ever-growing need for blockchain technology across a plethora of sectors. Regions, especially in Asia, with considerably large government and finance departments, have hugely benefited from the digital transformation and adoption surge in the mainframe market. The needle MIPS MIPSUN trackers figure reports an enlargement of over 35 million units signifying the exponential growth in computing resources mid-year 2023. 

By Application 

As of today, banking, retail, and airline industries are heavily reliant on mainframe market for transaction applications due to their astounding reliability and speed. With that said, the transaction application accounts for 42% of revenue of the market. The global transactions last year eclipsed 30 trillion records and this number will only escalate with time. Recently, A major credit card network provided insights to the lives of numerous individuals, revealing its mainframe architecture processes 1.5 billion authorizations daily. As of today, more and more businesses are trying to achieve near-real-time transaction validation, and the architecture of the mainframe combined with its ultra-low latency makes them the perfect fit for the job. 

A few reasons why mainframe market remain the dominant force in the transactions applications are due to advanced hardware encryption technologies, superior data integrity mechanisms, and machine-assisted input/output systems interactions’ integrative aspects. A global retailer was able to disclose that their mainframe infrastructure was able to process and smoothen over 700 million transactions in a month across different point of sale channels. Furthermore, A national healthcare system was also able to deploy an IBM Z system capable of sorting through and settling 2 million claims a day while ensuring smooth real time cross channel reporting. All of those capabilities paired up helped enterprises achieve their goals of high stability and performance combined with minimal latency and errors.

With the worldwide movement to digital centers, there has been a need for accurate transaction processing not only in traditional businesses, but in new markets also as well as in online businesses. In 2023, BFSI firms, for example, have invested in excess of $5 billion in mainframe expansion projects to increase the payment gateways and the services of digital wallets. Furthermore, a recent technology survey disclosed that at least 60 branches of mobile-banking applications were installed on mainframe systems in the first three months of 2023 alone. 

By End Users

When it comes to end users, BFSI held close to 34.75% share of the mainframe market as have to deal with large data and high compliance requirements which, pushes them to opt for mainframes. In 2023, businesses in global banking industry bought 1,400 new mainframe systems as a whole, indicating how much they plugged into the use of advanced hardware. A major player in the insurance market claimed that they held in the region of 3 petabyte of policyholder information on IBM Z servers. This demonstrates the capability of the platform in terms of data warehousing. In addition, anomaly fraud detection is still relevant in BFSI, one European bank recently reported that they were able to prevent over 50,000 fraud attempts in a quarter thanks to anomaly detection tools on the mainframe. These benefits highlight why mainframes are still popular in this industry.

Within BFSI, unsecured environments cannot be tolerated and data resilience is of utmost importance. Mainframes automate back up operations and allow for secure encrypted transaction pathways. An investment firm based in America has stated that their mainframe is responsible for $6 trillion worth of asset trades annually. This is dominance of the mainframe market in BFSI is further supplemented by the commentary made by a Middle Eastern bank, stating how its GS Series technology averaged less than 50 milliseconds for at least one of its transactions. Internet users expect up to the second updates and this technology is able to achieve that, as a result of blockchain, it gets easier for BFSI entities to remain competitive. 

There has been an emphasis on the widespread need for fin-tech solutions, mostly in regions yet to become financially included. BFSI players have rapidly adopted technological advances at an alarming pace. For instance in early 2023, more than 30 organizations from South East Asia began to use mainframes for core operational activities. As banking services become digitized, the demand shifts towards the requirements of the previously mentioned end users. 

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Regional Analysis 

North America is largest region in the global mainframe market is because of its innovative culture, its access to great funding, and the presence of several technology behemoths. North America continues to dominate the global mainframe market, with revenues amounting to US$1,665.23 million in 2023. This is largely the case because of the core areas like finance, healthcare, and retail which are reliant on the effective computing of mainframe machines in the US. North American companies handle around 3.7 million of million instructions per second, indicating a great need for data transactions within the region. These statistics point to the reason being a hub for the increase of mainframe technologies.

The leadership of North America in the mainframe market can be attributed to the United States along with the continuous investment in mainframe upgrades as well as R&D services which are robust. Research estimates suggest that the U.S. spends nearly US$ 1.2 billion every year to improve the features of the mainframe systems to ensure that these systems remain relevant to large corporations. Leading companies such as IBM, BMC, and Broadcom have either a US base or presence and have served more than 150,000 skilled labor employees. Furthermore, the deployment of next-gen hardware, software and cloud integration services has maintained America’s position as the epicenter of great mainframe deployments, attracting more talent and capital.

What role do Canada and Mexico play in the strengthening of the mainframe structures of North America? It is true that the U.S. attracts most of the attention in this regard, however, Canada and Mexico also assist greatly in enhancing the US primary base. Notably, the public and the private organizations within Canada mainframe market invest roughly about $450 million on an annual basis for either enhancement or to ensure that Canadian mainframes are operational. This demonstrates how Canada continue to depend on Canadian mainframes for effective and efficient processing of massive blocks of data. It is worth noting that Canada is still heavily reliant on mainframes for large scale data processing which explains the country’s heavy investments into the Canadian mainframe. In Mexico, there are over 4. specialized centers, which offer mainframe technologies that serve commercial banks, telecoms and various government agencies. Both nations have a reduced cost of operations because if the geographical clustering of such specialties and services and this encourages innovation. 

Top Players in Global Mainframe Market

• IBM
• FUJITSU Ltd.
• Broadcom
• Cognizant
• Unisys Corporation
• DXC Technology Company
• Eviden SAS
• NTT Data
• Infosys Limited
• BMC Software
• Wipro
• NEC Corporation
• Other Prominent Players

Market Segmentation Overview:

By Product Type

• Systems
  • Z systems
  • GS Series
  • Clear Path Dorado Systems
  • Others
• Software
  • Cloud
  • On-premises
• Services

By Application

• Transaction
• ERP
• Census
• Consumer Statics
• Application Development
• Operations Management
• Testing and Quality
• Compliance & Data Protection
• Accounting
• Payroll Computations

By End User

• BFSI
• IT and Telecom
• Healthcare
• Government and Public Sector
• Retail
• Travel and Transportation
• Manufacturing
• E-businesses
• Others

By Region

• North America
  • The U.S.
  • Canada
  • Mexico
• Europe
  • Western Europe
    • The UK
    • Germany
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • Rest of Western Europe
  • Eastern Europe
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • Rest of Eastern Europe
• Asia Pacific
  • China
  • India
  • Japan
  • Australia & New Zealand
  • South Korea
  • ASEAN
  • Rest of Asia Pacific
• Middle East & Africa
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • UAE
  • Rest of MEA
• South America
  • Argentina
  • Brazil
  • Rest of South America