March 3, 2025 – The much anticipated Worldwide Internet of Things Spending Guide has been released by International Data Corporation, including an updated forecast with the new enterprise industry taxonomy. The 27 newly available industries represent a deeper, more granular segmentation across critical manufacturing industries such as automotive, industrial, consumer package goods, life sciences, high tech and electronics, and aerospace. The latest outlook for internet of things (IoT) spending in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) is for an 11% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2023-2028, according to IDC.
“The new IoT Spending Guide industry taxonomy provides more expansive details into enterprise end-user spending, which the market needs to understand IoT tech investment. As an example of the new industry taxonomy structure, goods production to supply chains to retail distribution emerge as one of the more visible investment themes in IoT use cases,” says Marcus Torchia, research vice president with IDC’s Data & Analytics Group.
Source: IDC’s Internet of Things Spending Guide, EMEA view, V2 2024 (December 2024)
Western Europe (WE), Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and Middle East and Africa (MEA) will account for around one-third of global IoT spending throughout the forecast. Western Europe will grow faster, with an 11.2% CAGR over the 2023-2028 forecast period compared to MEA’s 10.3% CAGR and CEE’s 9.4% CAGR. After a couple of challenging years in terms of investment, the region is estimated to have higher year-on-year growth in 2025 compared to the previous year, as the adoption of 5G networks, advancements in edge computing, and AI-powered data processing are driving significant improvements in IoT infrastructure and capabilities.
“This evolution underscores the region’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technologies to drive innovation and efficiency, creating a more connected and intelligent environment. The potential impact on businesses is profound,” says Alexandra Rotaru, data & analytics manager with IDC’s Data & Analytics Group. “IoT solutions will allow businesses to make faster, more informed decisions, enhancing their agility and responsiveness to market changes. These advancements will enable businesses to optimize processes, reduce costs, and create new revenue streams.”
Regarding industry spending, Retail and Utilities will see the largest investment in IoT solutions in 2025 in EMEA, followed by Government. The newly added video analytics use case accounts for nearly 8% of the total market, being found in all industries and supporting a variety of uses, including security and business analytics.
Investments in the IoT technology ecosystem in EMEA are expected to reach $283 billion by 2028. From a technology perspective, hardware will be the largest area of spending in 2025 and through the end of the forecast. Provisioned services, which includes telecommunications services and IaaS, will be the fastest growing technology category by 2028.
On a global level, Western Europe, China, and the United States will account for almost 75% of all IoT spending throughout the forecast. Although WE and China have similar levels of spending, China will grow at a faster clip, posting a 12.7% CAGR over the 2023-2028 forecast period. China’s IoT spending is forecast to surpass the United States by the end of the forecast.
The Worldwide Internet of Things Spending Guide (V2 2024) forecasts IoT spending for 16 technologies and 139 named use cases across 27 industries in nine regions and 51 countries.
About IDC Spending Guides
IDC’s Spending Guides provide a granular view of key technology markets from a regional, vertical industry, use case, buyer, and technology perspective. The spending guides are delivered via pivot table format or custom query tool, allowing the user to easily extract meaningful information about each market by viewing data trends and relationships.
For more information about IDC’s Spending Guides, please contact Monika Kumar at mkumar@idc.com.
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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 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology, IT benchmarking and sourcing, 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 wholly owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world’s leading tech media, data, and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.