Who is driving the development of the Internet of Things? Investment monitor

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an umbrella term that describes how technology can be used to connect various automated functions in an environment. Examples of this include how homes, businesses and even entire cities – smart cities – are becoming more automated, using sensors and controls to optimize everyday processes, including energy use.

A growing component of the IoT is the monitoring of people moving in that environment through wearable technology. The connected car also has a role to play in the development of this emerging technologically interconnected environment.

Is the seamless Internet of Things within reach?

The ultimate goal is “pervasive” IoT, which implies a level of seamless and complete connectivity across environments, but most industry experts agree that’s some way off. To achieve ubiquitous IoT, industry standards for communication protocols and security must be agreed upon, in addition to providing AI-driven real-time intelligence.

John Marcus, principal analyst at GlobalData, agrees that ubiquitous IoT enabled by cellular networks is some way off, as it will require widespread standalone 5G and the use cases it can support have yet to be proven. “Some countries, including the UK, have some 5G public networks, but stand-alone 5G coverage that doesn’t rely on the 4G backbone is still limited,” he says.

Worldwide IoT market However, it will reach $1.1 trillion by 2024, according to GlobalData Topic Research. Enterprise IoT will account for 73% of market revenue by 2024, down from 76% in 2020, while the growing consumer segment will account for 27% in 2024, up from 24% in 2020, with significant growth in wearables. The analyst highlights how the accelerated digital transformation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to drive further IoT growth.

The five layers of IoT

Different markets are emerging within IoT: automated home, connected car, wearable technology, smart cities and industrial internet. In each of these markets, there is GlobalData thematic research, which identifies five layers of function: device layer, communication layer, data layer, application layer, and services layer. Companies are investing heavily in these five IoT functions.

As with all emerging technologies, various countries are locked in a space race for world leadership, particularly the US and China. The economic divide between the US and China, with import and export restrictions on goods and services, including semiconductors, has affected many of the supply chains of IoT technology leaders. GlobalData’s research identifies these leading IoT players as Amazon:, Apple:, Cisco:, Dell:, Google:, HPE:, Huawei:Hikvision, IBM, Inspur, Intel:, Microsoft and: ZTE:.

To reveal the geographic dominance of the IoT market, GlobalData’s analysis of patent figures shows that the US and China lead by a long way. Overall, global IoT-related patents increased tenfold between 2010 and 2020.

This massive growth was led by China, where the volume of IoT patents filed between 2002 and 2021 reached 286,246, nearly double that of the US, which came in second place with 155,374 patents filed. South Korea and Japan follow with 46,312 and 36,034 respectively. Germany and the UK rank fifth and sixth, respectively, with 9,686 and 9,548 patents filed during the review period.

The patent activity correlates somewhat with GlobalData’s forecast of IoT connections in 2025, according to Marcus, where China is expected to account for 28% of global connections in 2025, the US at 24%, followed by Western Europe: 21% and Asia (excl. China) with 15%. “Of course, patent innovation is often patented and used internationally, giving Japan and South Korea, and to some extent China, significant influence beyond their home turf,” he adds.

M&A IoT activity is on the rise

The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in the IoT space has skyrocketed from just 6 in 2010 to 343 in 2020. IoT transaction volumes have surpassed many other emerging technologies, according to Global Data. In July 2022, IoT deal volume was 246, more than double that of digital media (93) and AI (68), cloud (67) and big data (57).

In the last decade, the leading acquirers of IoT-related companies have been Apple:, Intel:, Amazon:, Garmin:ARM, Cisco:, The alphabet, AT&T: and: Accenture. Marcus says this M&A activity has seen the market for IoT platforms consolidate around major cloud players such as Amazon Web ServicesMicrosoft, Google and several others.

In terms of hiring trends from July 2021 to June 2022, the top five were Amazon, Apple, Siemens:Accenture and: Bosch:. With 4,986 employees in June 2022, Amazon was the leader, five times more than its nearest competitors.

Aside from actual hiring volume, Samsung was the company with the highest growth in IoT hiring. Between July 2021 and June 2022, Samsung aggressively hired skilled IoT workers, ahead of other leading IoT companies.

Will a shortage of semiconductors hinder the development of the IoT?

Future growth of the IoT market will depend heavily on a stable supply of components such as semiconductors, which have seen significant supply chain shortages over the past few years. New semiconductor fabs are set to come online in the US and Europe to diversify away from reliance on Taiwan and South Korea.

Truly the leading IoT company in July 2022 Bosch: announced that it will invest approximately $400 million by 2025 as part of a larger $3 billion investment by the German government and the European Chip Act to expand the company’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity in Germany. In addition to the semiconductor supply chain issues of the past few years, another factor that could limit the growth of the IoT ecosystem is the slow development of new generation devices to catch up with the latest connectivity standards, including 5G, NB-IoT and LTE. -M, according to Marcus.

Important enablers of pervasive IoT will be AI for real-time intelligence, cloud computing, cyber security and 5G. As these technologies mature, pervasive IoT can help with everything from reach 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, to provide more efficient and connected systems for real-time health monitoring, banking and transportation. Investments are growing rapidly and technology is advancing on what could be an emerging technology that can help fight some of the world’s most pressing problems.