Singapore, June 14, 2022: According to IDC’s latest Worldwide Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide, the IoT market in Asia/Pacific (Japan not included) will continue to grow in 2022 by 9.1 percent, accelerating from 6.9 percent in 2021.
It said headwinds such as semiconductor shortages and supply chain disruption caused by geopolitical tensions have limited the growth in 2022 to single digits, and rising inflation may dampen growth. However, rising demand for remote operations, better network coverage, and the deployment of commercial 5G and testbeds were driving IoT adoption in the region.
IDC expects Asia/Pacific spending on IoT to reach $436 billion in 2026, with a CAGR of 11.8 percent for the period 2021-2026.
“The ongoing deployment and expansion of 5G will drive the growth of connectivity use cases that utilise massive narrowband IoT as well as wideband/broadband IoT such as 4K IP cameras. Low Earth Satellites including nanosatellites and next-generation Very High Throughput Satellites will enable a wide range of remote connectivity uses cases relating to Smart Cities, environmental and sustainability monitoring, transportation infrastructure, energy and resources, and utilities,” saids Bill Rojas, Research Director for IDC Asia/Pacific in a written statement.
Discrete and process manufacturing will continue to be the top industries investing in IoT solutions in 2022 and in forecasted years, followed by State/Local Government and Professional Services. The ability to improve the product and service quality, efficiency, and customer experience are the primary motivations for these businesses to invest in IoT. Industries that will experience the fastest growth in 2022 are Retail and Healthcare, with a growth of 11.8 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Changes caused by the pandemic increased digitization in retail processes, and continued the momentum of remote or contactless engagement are driving this growth.
IoT use cases that see the highest spending in 2022 are Manufacturing Operations, Production Asset Management, Omni-Channel Operations, Public Safety and Emergency Response and Smart Grids which follows similar growth patterns as the host industries. Together, these use-cases will make more than one-third of the overall IoT spending in the region. Use-case related to healthcare – bedside telemetry will continue to be one of the fastest-growing use-cases in 2022, along with Maintenance & Field Service and Airport Facility Automation.
“Enterprises in Asia/Pacific excluding Japan are actively pursuing digital transformation of business processes to understand better current difficulties and productivity gaps across the value chain. The use of IoT will facilitate better collaboration within the organization and the ecosystem” said Sharad Kotagi, Market Analyst at IDC IT Spending Guides, Customer Insights & Analysis.
From a pure spending perspective, in 2022, the largest portion of spending is expected to remain in the services category, representing roughly 40 percent of the overall IoT spending in the region.
Image credit: IDC