IoT 2024 in review: The 10 most relevant IoT developments of the year

As we kick off 2025, the IoT Analytics team has again evaluated last year’s main IoT developments in the global “Internet of Things” arena. This article highlights some general observations and our top 10 IoT stories from 2024, a year characterized by a challenging macroeconomic environment and vast expansion in—and excitement for—AI. As AI has taken the attention of so many, the IoT Analytics team has elected to publish a 2024 AI year-in-review article separately.

For reference, here is IoT Analytics’ 2023 IoT year-in-review article.

General IoT 2024 market

Post-pandemic economic struggles settling out. After several years of economic turbulence following the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the world started to experience economic stabilization in 2024. Inflation is generally easing worldwide, and interest rates have begun to drop in many countries as recession fears have lessened. Global GDP growth reached 3.2%, a touch higher than the 3.1% forecasted in January 2024. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s GDP growth was significantly higher at 7%, while China’s GDP grew 4.8%. The US came under the global GDP growth at 2.8%., and the Euro Union grew much less at 0.8%. In terms of industries, manufacturing significantly underperformed at 0.6% growth, with manufacturing in developed countries maintaining a purchasing manager index (PMI) below or barely at 50 throughout 2024.

Economic concerns still linger amid strong stock gains. Throughout 2024, economic concerns remained the most-discussed topic area by CEOs, with inflation as the leading topic. This comes as the NASDAQ Composite, one of the key indices for technology companies, rose over 33% in 2024—even peaking at over 20,000 points for the first time on December 11, 2024. Soon after, however, it dropped back below 20,000 as the US Federal Reserve announced its forecast of fewer interest rate cuts in 2025, signaling that inflation is expected to still linger in the new year.

2024 was an off-year for IoT, particularly for hardware. Many IoT-centric industries experienced either a shrunken market or slower growth year-over-year (YoY). In June, IoT Analytics shared its experiences at Hannover Messe 2024 and noted that industrial vendors with a large hardware footprint expressed cautious 2024 business outlooks, while many large industrial vendors with a large software footprint expressed optimism in their outlooks. Both sides appeared correct in their general outlooks, as the industrial software market experienced over 12% growth in 2024 (though a touch slower than in 2023), while some industrial hardware segments (e.g., OT and industrial connectivity hardware) experienced market declines.

Significant IoT connections and spending increase in 2024. Even with the off-year, the number of connected IoT devices grew approximately 13% YoY, surpassing 18 billion. Further, enterprise spending on IoT increased 10% YoY to roughly $298 billion.*

Interest in IoT remains high in general, but CEOs talk about it less than before. The public relevance of the term IoT remained within 30% of its all-time high in 2022 and finished 2024 strong, coming to within 3% of the high. Meanwhile, mentions of IoT by CEOs in corporate earnings calls continued to decline generally, falling from 2.5% of earnings calls in Q4 2023 to 2.1% in Q4 2024 (with a noted spike to 2.8% of such calls in Q2 2024).

AI at center stage. Throughout 2024, as IoT generally declined in mentions with CEOs, AI has been the top technology topic discussed by CEOs and has become a key enabler for use cases such as predictive maintenance (using IoT data, of course). As such, IoT Analytics has also published its inaugural AI Year in Review for 2024.

Top 10 notable IoT developments in 2024

Throughout 2024, we monitored significant developments regarding IoT technology as part of our continued coverage of the field. In our opinion, these are the top 10 notable developments of IoT (in chronological order of the leading stories we highlight).

1. Largest IoT-related acquisition: Synopsys acquires Ansys

Synopsys announces acquisition of Ansys. On January 16, 2024, US-based electronic design automation company Synopsys and US-based engineering simulation software company Ansys announced an agreement for Synopsys to acquire Ansys for $35 billion. In May 2024, Ansys stockholders approved the transaction, and the deal is expected to close in H1 2025.

Synopsys faces regulator investigations over the acquisition. This deal is not without scrutiny, however. Shortly after, the EU opened an investigation into the acquisition, as did the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on March 21, 2024, and the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on August 13, 2024. In September 2024, Synopsys agreed to sell assets to appease EU regulators, and this month, the EU approved the merger subject to the divestments, and the CMA indicated willingness to accept the divestments as well.

An additional notable acquisition is Germany-based industrial automation company Siemens’ acquiring US-based cloud solutions provider Altair Engineering for $10.6 billion. The two companies signed the definitive agreement on October 30, 2024, and it is Siemens’ second biggest acquisition. In its announcement, Siemens indicates that Altair’s simulation, data science, and AI capabilities will be used with Siemens Xcelerator to enhance its AI-powered design and simulation portfolio.

2. Largest IoT-related funding round: Terminus Technologies

Terminus Technologies takes the largest IoT funding round. On April 9, 2024, China-based smart city AI+IoT platform operator Terminus Technologies raised CN¥2 billion (approximately $276 million) in Series D funding. Founded in 2015, Terminus specializes in smart city solutions, robotics, and AI applications.

The company has largely been under the radar in terms of press regarding its activities. However, it has been involved in some high-profile partnerships and projects. At Expo 2020 Dubai, Terminus deployed 150 robots to greet visitors and even deliver food via a partner food delivery service. More recently, it partnered with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to aid in traffic enforcement, detecting infractions with a reported 85% success rate.

On the smart city front, the company leverages light detection and ranging (LIDAR), AI, and smart cameras for their smart city solutions, which include traffic optimization and management, public safety, multi-modal transportation optimization, and port and venue security and operations management.

2024’s largest funding round beats 2022 and 2023. Compared to the last few years, Terminus’ Series D funding round is the largest IoT-related round since 2021, when US-based industrial cybersecurity software company Armis Security (appearing again below) raised $300 million in private equity funding. Additionally, 7 IoT-related companies raised over $100 million, the most since 2021.

Other notable IoT-related funding rounds of 2024 included:

3. Top IoT chip development: Qualcomm and Silicon Labs release low-power Wi-Fi 6 chip

Qualcomm and Silicon Labs bring Wi-Fi into the low-power IoT operation game. Also on April 9, 2024, US-based semiconductor designer and manufacturer Qualcomm announced its QCC730 Wi-Fi system-on-chip (SoC), specifically designed for low-power IoT applications. The SoC is engineered to deliver up to 88% lower power usage for battery-operated IoT devices, and while it does not include Bluetooth LE (BLE), its small form factor allows for it to be integrated with BLE-only applications. Similarly, on December 4, 2024, US-based semiconductor designer and manufacturer Silicon Labs released its SiWx917Y ultra-low power Wi-Fi 6 and BLE module with an ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller, 43 general-purpose inputs and outputs, and support for the Matter standard, targeting this module for IoT applications like industrial sensors, asset tracking, and smart buildings.

These low-power Wi-Fi advancements are a significant step forward for IoT devices. Traditionally, Wi-Fi’s high power consumption limited its use in battery-powered devices, pushing developers to use power-conscious alternatives like Zigbee, BLE, or Matter. The QCC730 and SiWx917Y now offer developers an option for low-power operation over a broadly familiar standard (Wi-Fi 6) and protocol (TCP/IP). This means that QCC730- and SiWx917Y-based devices can connect directly to the internet and cloud services without protocol conversion, streamlining IoT connectivity in the industrial and consumer domains.

Cisco and AT&T drop certain IoT connectivity options. This boost for Wi-Fi-based IoT connectivity comes as other connectivity standards started seeing decreased attention or offerings. For example, in 2024, the IoT Analytics team observed a trend of companies moving away from technologies that failed to meet expectations. US-based network equipment manufacturer Cisco announced its decision to discontinue its LoRaWAN gateways in October 2024 after being increasingly overshadowed by its competitors like MultiTech and RAK Wireless in terms of LoRaWAN successes (more on LoRa successes below in Section 10). Further, US-based telecommunications company AT&T dropped its NB-IoT offerings in November 2024, highlighting the limited demand for this technology in the US. However, it should be noted that major US telecommunication companies Verizon and T-Mobile continued their NB-IoT services. AT&T’s drop of this technology also reinforces the notion that NB-IoT remains largely a China-dominated market driven by government sponsorship. AT&T’s move likely signals a strategic reallocation of resources toward LTE-Cat 1 bis and 5G RedCap, reflecting the growing preference for these IoT connectivity technologies in North America.

4. Most exciting interoperability advancement: Margo for edge device management

Linux Foundation establishes edge orchestration standard along with top industrial automation and software vendors. On April 16, 2024, the Linux Foundation announced the release of Margo, an open standard for edge application, workload, and device orchestration, noted as a significant topic at Hannover Messe 2024. The foundation’s goal with Margo (which, appropriately, is Latin for “edge” or “margin”) is to specify how edge applications, edge devices, and orchestration software should interoperate to simplify the process of building, deploying, scaling, and operating complex, multi-vendor edge environments for organizations of all sizes.

The announcement came a week before Hannover Messe, but the fair hosted a panel discussion for the initiative and included Margo project representatives from ABB (including B&R), Siemens, Schneider Electric (including AVEVA), Rockwell Automation, Capgemini, and Microsoft, showcasing the powerful support the project has. On the same day of the discussion, Schneider Electric released a blog about joining the initiative, noting that the company fully supports a “flexible, interoperable, hardware and software-agnostic edge architecture that enables wide-scale usage of data with edge computing and AI.” Siemens, too, had its own blog release stating it was a founding member of the project and that the aim of Margo is to “take another big step in the development of industrial automation interoperability standards that enable compatibility between and across applications and systems,” adding that this philosophy already aligns with its Industrial Edge and other offerings.

In November 2024, US-based enterprise open software company Red Hat also joined the Margo project. In its announcement, it said it is collaborating “to develop a comprehensive and effective interoperability standard intended to help customers achieve their innovation goals with greater speed and efficiency.”

“The Margo Initiative aligns with Red Hat’s commitment to unlocking barriers to innovation and simplifying the deployment, scalability, and operation of industrial solutions for our customers.”

Kelly Switt, senior director, intelligent edge global business development, Red Hat (November 12, 2024)

Advantech and Namla partner to offer cloud–edge AI orchestration solutions. Another notable device management development was Taiwan-based embedded, IoT, and automation solutions provider Advantech and cloud–edge orchestration platform provider Namla partnering in October 2024 to combine their strengths for a cloud–edge AI orchestration and management solution that brings large language models (LLMs) to the edge. Advantech brings its edge AI applications powered by US-based chip designer and producer NVIDIA’s Jetson platform to the partnership, while Namla brings its Edge Orchestration platform.

5. Most notable IoT project: The Paris Olympics

IoT enhanced event management and officiating at the Paris Olympic games. Paris hosted the Olympic Games from July 26–Aug 11, 2024, and it was arguably the most tech-heavy Olympics, especially for IoT use. Similar to previous games, the French organizers used smart city technology to manage traffic and crowd density and biometric tools for security, among other event management applications; however, 2024’s games saw IoT (alongside AI and other technology) become an officiating tool to a great degree.

Switzerland-based Omega—most known for its luxury watches—has long been the official timekeeper for the Olympic Games, but it has also expanded beyond providing time-keeping watches and clocks to developing and offering other technology to help officiate the games. For example, Omega provided high-definition smart cameras for court-type games like sand volleyball. In this instance, multiple cameras were placed around sand volleyball courts, together developing a 3D picture (so to speak) with which AI could detect faults, such as the ball going out of bounds, with the added benefit of collecting real-time stats—such as ball speed and jump height—to share with the viewing public instantaneously.

Additionally, Omega developed an electric starting “pistol” for track races. These pistols were connected to stadium speakers and official time-keeping devices, allowing all racers to hear the “pistol fire” simultaneously (as opposed to the sound from a real pistol reaching the racer in the furthest lane last, presenting a disadvantage) and precise race stats.

IoT helped athletes hone their performance. While training for the Paris Olympics, the US swim team used digital twins based on body-worn sensors called inertial measurement units, capable of capturing 512 frames of information a second. These sensors collected body acceleration, orientation, and force, and the data went to develop a digital twin of a swimmer so the coaches and swimmers could identify areas for performance improvement (such as reducing drag). The digital twins were created by Professor Ken Ono and his students at the University of Virginia.

6. Top space-based connectivity developments: China enters the mega-constellation stage

China enters the mega-constellation race. In August 2024, China initiated its first mega-constellation project by launching 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails (G60) constellation. This effort, led by the state-backed Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), aims to establish a low Earth orbit (LEO) network similar to SpaceX’s Starlink, providing global broadband internet coverage (initially), including IoT connectivity (starting at a later date). SSST launched the second group of 18 satellites for the project in October 2024.

SSST plans to deploy 600 satellites by the end of 2025, with an initial constellation of 1,296 satellites and a long-term goal of approximately 15,000 satellites. The standardized satellites are reportedly manufactured within days, supporting an annual production target of 300 units. In February 2024, SSST secured 6.7 billion yuan (approximately $938 million), marking the largest Chinese satellite funding round to date.

EU inches closer to launching its own satellite constellation. On December 16, 2024, the EU Commission and the European Space Agency signed a concession contract with the SpaceRISE consortium—a group of European space and telecom companies—to develop, deploy, and operate the EU’s Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS2) multi-orbital satellite constellation initiative. First announced in 2022, the initiative aims to enhance the EU’s strategic autonomy and communications reliability while propping EU telecom companies, creating competition for non-EU companies like SpaceX.

However, SpaceX appears to be securing a foothold in the EU space market via Italy. In June 2024, Italy’s Council of Ministers approved a new framework regulating access to space for public agencies and private companies (commonly referred to as Article 25). One stipulation of the framework is that Italy must have reserve transmission capacity through satellite communications, and in September 2024, Elon Musk promoted an X (formally Twitter) post about how the framework is paving the way for Starlink to serve as Italy’s reserve (following Musk awarding the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizenship Award to Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni).

(Note: In January 2025, news agencies reported SpaceX and Italy being in talks over a telecommunications security services deal, though Meloni denies discussing any deals with Musk and confirming that Italy is in talks with several private space companies, including SpaceX.)

7. Biggest layoff in the IoT job market: Siemens

Siemens cuts thousands of jobs. On November 14, 2024, soon after the announcement of the Altair acquisition, Siemens announced it would cut thousands of jobs worldwide in its factory automation business after facing a challenging year. That month, the division reported a 26% YoY revenue decline. In June 2024, IoT Analytics noted cautious business outlooks by vendors with significant hardware footprints, so while this is not entirely surprising to the team, it stands out as a significant loss of IoT-related talent.

8. Most notable IoT software development: Hyperscalers are repositioning their IoT services

Microsoft expands its IoT offerings with Azure IoT Operations. On November 19, 2024, Microsoft released its next-generation IoT service, Azure IoT Operations, a cloud service for managing IoT data across the edge and cloud at scale. Powered by Azure Ark edge device technology, Azure IoT Operations is a collection of modular and scalable services that run on Kubernetes clusters and enable data collection from various sources and integration with data modeling applications such as Microsoft Fabric. It does not replace Azure IoT Edge or Azure IoT Hub; rather, it is an additional offering by Microsoft for IoT data management, reflecting an expansion of Microsoft’s IoT support.

Hyperscalers increase their focus on edge software and orchestration. A day before Microsoft’s release of Azure IoT Operations, AWS announced advancements in its IoT offerings. On November 18, 2024, AWS publicly released its AWS IoT SiteWise Assistant, a generative AI-powered assistant that allows industrial users to gain insights, solve problems, and take action based on their operational data and other data sources. Alongside this release, AWS released a preview of its Assistant-aware AWS IoT SiteWise Monitor, offering a no-code solution for visualizing data insights. Further, at Hannover Messe 2024, Siemens and AWS announced a collaboration to add Siemens Insights Hub in AWS’s Industrial Data Fabric solutions to help customers create a unified and integrated industrial data architecture and enable their customers to contextualize OT and IT data from various sources, breaking down data silos.

9. Most notable IoT-related regulation: EU Cyber Resilience Act

EU adopts the Cyber Resilience Act, a framework to enhance the security of connected products in Europe. The EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) became law on December 10, 2024, after being approved by the European Parliament on March 12, 2024, and adopted by the Council of the EU on October 10, 2024. The goal of the CRA is to establish a consistent regulatory framework to enhance the cybersecurity of digital products and connected devices across the EU. Additionally, it aims to ensure that products with digital components are designed, developed, and maintained with a focus on cybersecurity, thereby reducing vulnerabilities and protecting users against cyber threats. By December 2027, full applicability will commence, and all products connected directly or indirectly to another device or network must bear a CE marking indicating compliance.

Regarding its impact on IoT, key implications include (but are not limited to):

• Enhanced security requirements for IoT devices – Manufacturers must integrate robust cybersecurity measures throughout the product lifecycle, from design to post-market support.
• Mandatory lifecycle security management – Manufacturers are required to provide regular security updates and patches, ensuring devices remain secure over time.
• Accountability for manufacturers – Manufacturers are responsible for conducting risk assessments and implementing security-by-design principles against stringent standards.
• Improved transparency and user trust – Manufacturers are obligated to provide clear information regarding cybersecurity risks and product security features, including fixed vulnerabilities.

Several EU member states missed deadline to transpose NIS Directive 2 into law. Of course, a regional regulation is only impactful when fully enforced. By October 17, 2024, EU member states were to have transposed the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive 2 into local national law. However, several countries failed to meet this deadline, let alone even begin transposing the directive into national law by the end of the year.

Other notable regulation developments in 2024 included:

Note: IoT Analytics is planning to publish a dedicated report on the impact of regulations in 2025. Those interested in accessing these reports when they are released can sign up for IoT Analytics’ IoT Research Newsletter by clicking below.

10. Best performing IoT 2024 stock: Semtech

Semtech stock recovers greatly after 2 years of decline. US-based semiconductor and IoT systems provider Semtech’s stock (ticker symbol “SMTC”) experienced a 202% climb from $20.47 on January 5, 2024, to $61.85 on December 31, 2024. The stock experienced a sudden 18% jump on November 26, 2024, following the release of its Q3 FY2025 results, with net sales reaching $236.8 million, up 10% sequentially.

Semtech’s LoRaWAN division doubles revenue YoY. Most notable in Semtech’s earnings results was its LoRa-enabled solutions division, which grew 104% YoY to $29 million, indicating that the technology is performing well even as companies like Cisco drop LoRaWAN gateways from their offerings (as discussed above). Other financial announcements in its Q3 FY2025 results include a record 58% YoY growth in its data center net sales to $43.1 million and 11% YoY growth in its IoT systems net sales to $57.9 million.

“LoRa consumption in industrial applications continues to grow, and I’m pleased [with] the momentum over a broad range of applications, from healthcare, smart utilities, and smart city to factory automation, with a recent deployment in automotive facilities.”

Hong Hou, president and CEO, Semtech (Q2 FY2025 earnings call, August 28, 2024)

Further information

IoT Analytics constantly monitors current trends in IoT markets and makes them available to enterprise subscription clients.

Our IoT coverage in 2024

Would you like to take a deeper look at current IoT markets? You may be interested in one of the market reports and trackers we published in 2024. You can find the complete overview here.

General IoT reports

• IoT System Integration and Professional Services Market Report 2024–2030
• State of IoT Summer 2024
• IoT Use Case Adoption Report 2024
• Global IoT Enterprise Spending Report
• Hannover Messe 2024–The latest industrial IoT/Industry 4.0 trends
• Embedded World 2024 Event Report—Analyst Takeaways
• MWC Barcelona 2024 Event Report—Analyst Takeaways

Industrial IoT reports

• Virtual PLC and Soft PLC Market Report 2024–2030
• Smart Factory Adoption Report 2024
• IT/OT Convergence Insights Report 2024
• Industrial Connectivity Market Report 2024–2028

Connectivity and Hardware reports/tracker

• IoT eSIM Modules and iSIM Chipsets Market Tracker (2024 Update)
• IoT Mobile Operator Pricing and Market Report 2024–2030
• 5G IoT and Private 5G Market Report 2024–2030
• Cellular IoT Module and Chipset Market Tracker & Forecast

IoT Software and Platforms reports

• Industrial Software Landscape 2024–2030
• B2B Technology Marketplaces Market Report 2024–2030
• Data Management and Analytics Market Report 2024–2030
• Global Cloud Projects Report and Database 2024

Looking ahead at IoT in 2025

For continued coverage and updates (such as this one), you may subscribe to our newsletter. In 2025, we will keep our focus on important IoT topics such as industrial edge computing, IoT semiconductors, satellite IoT connectivity, IoT & environmental sustainability, AI, and more. Plenty of new reports will be published in the coming months.

For complete enterprise IoT coverage with access to all of IoT Analytics paid content & reports as well as dedicated analyst time, your company may subscribe to the Corporate Research Subscription.

Our IoT Analytics team wishes you and your team great success in 2025!

Disclosure

Companies mentioned in this article—along with their products—are used as examples to showcase a vibrant IoT startup landscape. No company paid or received preferential treatment in this article, and it is at the discretion of the analyst to select which examples are used. IoT Analytics makes efforts to vary the companies and products mentioned to help shine attention to the numerous IoT and related technology market players.

It is worth noting that IoT Analytics may have commercial relationships with some companies mentioned in its articles, as some companies license IoT Analytics market research. However, for confidentiality, IoT Analytics cannot disclose individual relationships. Please contact compliance@iot-analytics.com for any questions or concerns on this front.