IoT market forecast to 2035: connections by region and vertical

Updated in March 2026, this report presents the latest forecasts and views on the evolution of the IoT market, the key changes between the new and previous forecasts, and forecasts up to 2035. The global IoT market will reach 40.8 billion connections by 2030 and 52.9 billion by 2035. Enterprise applications are the primary growth driver, expanding from 65% of total connections in 2030 to 69% by 2035, led by smart buildings, manufacturing, and utilities.

B2B has emerged as a strategic growth area for operators and the wider tech/digital ecosystem. As the digital transformation of vertical sectors accelerates, gaining insights directly from enterprises is key. GSMA Intelligence surveyed more than 500 enterprises from 10 vertical sectors across the US and Canada to gain insight into their digital transformation. The research focused on strategic objectives, investment plans, use of technology, deployment challenges, supplier decisions, tech sovereignty, and policy and regulation.

This edition of the Industry Checkpoint series focuses on IoT, highlighting how the market has changed in the last six months and its implications. The report considers four developments: IoT connectivity providers advancing commercial deployment of NTN services; IoT semiconductor vendors expanding device ecosystem support for NTN-IoT solutions, Qualcomm accelerating edge AI launches targeting industrial IoT; and eSIM SGP.32 momentum building across regional telco alliances and ecosystem initiatives.