Global spending on internet of things (IoT) is slated to grow at a 15.6 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2015 and 2020, to nearly $1.29 trillion in 2020 from $737 billion in 2016, according to International Data Corporation (IDC),
Perhaps significantly, while 31 percent of that revenue will come from the sale of devices and hardware; 28 percent from services and 25 percent from software, 17 percent will be generated by connectivity services. In other words, growth in nearly every part of the ecosystem.
In 2016, manufacturers (for operations, asset management, maintenance and field service) will have invested $178 billion, transportation entities (largely for freight monitoring) about $78 billion and utilities (largely for “smart grids”) about $69 billion.
Consumer IoT purchases, the fourth largest market segment in 2016, will become the third largest segment by 2020.
Connected vehicles, smart buildings,insurance, consumer applications such as “smart home,” healthcare and retail all will be leading areas of growth through 2020, says IDC.
The Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan) is the geographic region that will see the greatest IoT spending throughout the forecast period, followed by the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.
Nearly a third of IoT purchases in Asia Pacific except Japan will be made by the manufacturing industry, while utilities and transportation will change places as the second and third largest IoT industries by the end of the forecast.
In the United States, manufacturing will be the industry with the largest IoT investments throughout the forecast but with a lower share (roughly 15 percent) of total spending. In Western Europe, Consumer IoT spending will overtake transportation and utilities to become the second largest IoT industry in 2020.
