What Is the IoT Market?

How big is the Internet of Things, and what is driving its growth? The IoT market connects billions of devices across industries, creating new data, operational efficiencies, and opportunities for digital services.

In this part of our IoT Basics series, we look at the size and scope of the global IoT market, the business models shaping its expansion, and the sectors leading the way, from connected mobility and logistics to manufacturing, utilities, and smart grids.

For a broader overview of how IoT works, from connectivity and communications to security and market insights, download IoT Basics: A Guide to IoT Terms.

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Last updated: May 2026

The Global IoT Market: Growth, Business Models, and Key Terms

The global IoT market continues to expand as more enterprises connect vehicles, machines, meters, buildings, logistics assets, and industrial equipment. GSMA Intelligence forecasts that IoT revenues will grow from $1 trillion in 2024 to $2 trillion by 2030, with enterprise IoT expected to be the largest driver of growth.

The number of connected devices is also increasing. GSMA Intelligence forecasts 40.8 billion IoT connections by 2030 and 52.9 billion by 2035, with enterprise applications driving much of that growth across areas such as smart buildings, manufacturing, utilities, logistics, and mobility.

As the market matures, IoT business models are shifting from one-off hardware and software sales toward managed services, platforms, and outcome-based models. Instead of building every part of an IoT solution themselves, organizations can use cloud infrastructure, connectivity orchestration, device management, analytics, and service-based models to reduce upfront investment and accelerate time to value.

This shift is visible across connected mobility, logistics, manufacturing, utilities, and smart grids. In each sector, IoT value depends not only on connecting assets, but also on managing uptime, data, cost, risk, and measurable business outcomes over the full lifecycle of a deployment.

The terms below explain the main market, business model, mobility, logistics, manufacturing, utilities, and smart grid concepts used in IoT.

X as a Service and Managed IoT Models

SaaS

Software as a Service

A software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted.

PaaS

Platform as a service

A cloud computing model in which hardware and software tools are delivered to users over the internet.

IaaS

Infrastructure as a service

A form of cloud computing that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet.

MaaS

Management-as-a-Service

The management of a network and systems, presented to the client in a web interface. In a sense, it’s a specialized version of SaaS, where the first “S” involved is management software.

Servitization

Servitization describes industries using their products to sell an outcome as a service, usually for a recurring subscription, rather than as a one-off sale of a product.

Connectivity Orchestration

Connectivity orchestration is the coordination of multiple connectivity technologies, networks, and profiles across regions to ensure continuous, compliant, and optimized operation of IoT devices.

IoT Business Value and Risk

TCO and ROI

Total Cost of Ownership

Calculating the true cost of an IoT deployment (hardware, connectivity, platform fees, maintenance, downtime) against the measurable business value it generates.

Time-to-Value

The timeframe it takes for an enterprise to begin seeing measurable ROI and business outcomes after an IoT solution is deployed.

Board-Level Risk

Recognition that IoT failures, such as cyber breaches, global fleet outages, compliance failures, or safety incidents, can create financial, operational, reputational, and strategic risks that require executive-level oversight.

Connected Mobility

ECU

Electronic Control Unit

A generic term for any embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical system or subsystems in a transport vehicle.

ITS

Intelligent Transportation Systems

Advanced applications which (without embodying intelligence as such) aim to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management, and enable various users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and ”smarter” use of transport networks.

Connected Logistics

Barcode

A machine-readable code in the form of numbers and a pattern of parallel lines of varying widths, printed on a commodity and used especially for stock control.

Cold chain

An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted series of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities, along with associated equipment and logistics, which maintain a desired low-temperature range.

EDI

Electronic data interchange

The transfer of structured data from one computer application to another by electronic means and with a minimum of human intervention. It also describes the electronic exchange of documents between businesses and organizations including government agencies.

Fleet management

The operational oversight of thousands of deployed devices, monitoring their health, location, and connectivity status globally. (see also IoT fleet management)

Connected Manufacturing

Industry 4.0

Utilizes connected machines and predictive maintenance to optimize factory floors and enable smart manufacturing environments. (see also IoT trends in industrial manufacturing)

MES

Manufacturing Execution System

An information system that connects, monitors and controls complex manufacturing systems and data flows on the factory floor.

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning

The integrated management of core business processes, often in real-time and mediated by software and technology.

PLM

Product Lifecycle Management

The process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from inception, through engineering design and manufacture, to service and disposal of manufactured products.

QMS

Quality Management System

A formalized system that documents processes, procedures, and responsibilities for achieving quality policies and objectives.

Smart manufacturing

Smart manufacturing uses connected machines, data, automation, and analytics to improve production efficiency, quality, flexibility, and maintenance.

Smart factory

A smart factory is a highly connected production environment where machines, systems, and data are integrated to monitor, automate, and optimize manufacturing processes.

BOM

Bill of Materials

A comprehensive list of parts, items, assemblies and other materials required to create a product.

JIT

Just In Time

An inventory management method whereby materials, goods, and labor are scheduled to arrive or be replenished exactly when needed in the production process.

Kanban

A visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. Kanban visualizes both the process and the actual work passing through that process.

CPPS

Cyber physical production systems

Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) are manufacturing systems where machines, sensors, software, and production processes are connected, monitored, and controlled through digital systems.

CAD

Computer-Aided Design

A technology that designs a product and documents the design’s process. CAD may facilitate the manufacturing process by transferring detailed diagrams of a product’s materials, processes, tolerances and dimensions with specific conventions for the product.

Connected Utilities and Smart Grids

Connected utilities and smart grids use digital communication, sensors, meters, and automation to monitor consumption, manage infrastructure, and respond to changes in supply and demand.

AMI

Advanced Metering Infrastructure

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is a digital architecture that enables two-way communication between smart meters and utility provider systems.

AMR

Automatic Meter Reading

The technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing.

Smart meter

A smart meter measures electricity, gas, or water consumption and can communicate usage data automatically to utilities, customers, or energy management systems.