Internet of Things, connected devices, edge computing, and industrial IoT
Deloitte survey of 600 executives shows smart manufacturing becomes primary competitiveness driver through 2028. Physical AI robot deployments jump from 9% to 22% as labor shortages force automation.
Azure infrastructure stopped the largest DDoS attack on record in early 2026, linked to compromised IoT devices. Enterprise buyers face a 46% surge in OT ransomware and new EU disclosure rules.
ASUS's RUC-2000 delivers 180 TOPS for factory vision systems, 7x higher than specialized chips. Edge gateway spending reaches $325.7B by 2025 as enterprises cut cloud dependency.
Enterprise IoT installed base reached 21.1 billion devices in 2025, yet less than 1% run edge AI. The gap exposes deployment risk as vendors pivot from connectivity to agentic operations.
New eSIM protocol lets IoT devices autonomously switch carriers based on coverage or policy, eliminating server-orchestrated profile downloads.
Deloitte survey shows commitment to automation and AI budgets, but enterprise buyers face a gap in verified performance data from live deployments.
New funding backs platform consolidation as SANS data shows unauthorized access drives half of OT incidents. Buyers face choice between specialized vendors and IT/OT convergence plays.
Two platform providers expand edge computing capabilities targeting manufacturing automation and robotics deployments with AI workloads.
New primary research from AMDT reveals that 50% of plants operate on partially automated backups while 77% claim confidence. The $260K-per-hour cost of downtime makes this confidence gap a board-level problem.
Edge AI infrastructure spending is projected to reach $350 billion by 2027. The digital twin market is growing from $33.97 billion to $384.79 billion. Singapore's IntelliPdM predictive maintenance system achieves 93-95% fault detection accuracy. NVIDIA's Vera Rubin architecture targets edge inference at scale. The economics are clear: running AI inference at the edge costs 60-80% less than cloud round-trips for latency-sensitive industrial applications.
Google absorbed Intrinsic, its industrial robotics subsidiary, back into the core company on February 25. Previously an Alphabet 'Other Bets' moonshot, Intrinsic now gets direct access to Gemini foundation models, Google Cloud infrastructure, and a Foxconn joint venture. The Flowstate platform and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 model represent Google's bet that AI-powered industrial automation is no longer experimental — it's a core business.
Siemens announced that its Industrial Copilot is evolving from an AI assistant into an autonomous execution platform with a third-party agent marketplace. AI agents can now autonomously execute PLC programming, quality inspection adjustments, and energy optimization across Siemens' industrial stack without human confirmation for pre-approved actions.