China’s Business IoT Market to Shift from Fragmentation to Agglomeration as Growth Accelerates

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

China’s business Internet of Things (IoT) market is expected to reach US$361 billion (around RMB2.4 trillion) by 2020, implying a CAGR of 13.3% over the next five years. This fast growth will be mainly fuelled by IoT software, which is likely to be the most promising technology segment in the country’s business IoT industry, according to the recently released IDC China Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide Forecast.

China’s IoT market, which has remained fragmented for the past five years in its exploratory development stage, is set to move into a development phase featuring market integration and platform agglomeration, driven by technology and business model innovations.

“IoT is now entering an era of rapid development,” said Antonio Liu, Senior Market Analyst at IDC China. “An important step in the future IoT ecosystem development in China will be an accelerating shift from market fragmentation to market integration, and from vertical industry convergence to horizontal platform agglomeration. This will also become the main theme in the next phase of the market.”

IoT has been identified as one of the key industries in China’s national innovation strategy. It serves as an important driver for the country to transform and upgrade its traditional industries, and to develop strategic emerging industries, offering enormous business opportunities. During the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan period, Big Data, Cloud Computing and IoT technologies will develop rapidly and find wide applications. More importantly, these technologies will influence one another and push forward the third wave of the information technology transformation. As IoT gains in popularity, IoT technologywill be further integrated with information technologies (IT) and operation technologies (OT), unlocking the huge potential in China's business IoT market – one that is still in its early stages.

IDC expects technology and business model innovations to drive the following two important development trends in China’s business IoT industry over the next three years:

IoT-specific platforms to accelerate IoT industry development

IoT applications are gradually entering people’s everyday lives, generating new demand for connectivity that IDC believes will emerge as the most direct growth opportunity in the market. IoT devices have become the most competitive field in the IoT industry as connectivity platforms mushroom. The growing reach of IoT platforms is ushering in a high-speed transformation toward a new generation of information communication. In the future, enterprises from different vertical industries and different technological fields will aid the development of the market, giving rise to diverse platform variety and services.

IoT &Big Data analysis starting to show its value

China's IoT industry chain has been gradually improving and taking shape thanks to the national policy support. IoT industry will gradually show its data-driven features as it enters fast-growth period. More and more enterprises have begun to explore the core value of IoT, launching different IoT solutions and data applications. Industry-specfic data analysis and applications spearheaded by industry IoT companies have been well received in the market. Telco operators have introduced general IoT platforms and Big Data analysis to serve their partners in the ecosystem. And IDC believes that startups that go deep into different segments and provide specialized services are expected to emerge and prosper.

About IDC Trackers

IDC Tracker products provide accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecasts for hundreds of technology markets from more than 100 countries around the globe. Using proprietary tools and research processes, IDC's Trackers are updated on a semiannual, quarterly, and monthly basis. Trackers offers timely and critical intelligence to aid our clients in strategic and tactical planning to compete effectively in China.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company.