Forrester Research predicts the ongoing global chip shortage will limit IoT growth by 10-15 percent in 2022.
The chip shortage that’s plaguing all technology manufacturers is the result of several factors including trade conflicts and even a drought in Taiwan, the leading country for semiconductor manufacturing. However, the biggest factor was COVID-19.
COVID-19 forced the closure of many semiconductor manufacturing facilities. Meanwhile, the demand for technology hardware remained or even grew as the result of increased remote working and people seeking to improve their home environments.
Forrester predicts the chip shortage won’t be resolved fully until mid-2023. The company’s analysts say that IoT devices are especially vulnerable “because they generally use mature sensor, microcontroller, and communications technologies that have significantly more availability issues than advanced chips like CPUs and GPUs.”
However, it’s not all gloom for the IoT in Forrester’s predictions.
As global leaders take their private jets home from the COP26 Climate Change Summit, the rest of the world is tasked with finding sustainable solutions that will keep the hope of limiting global warming to 1.5°C alive to limit the damage to health, livelihoods, food security, water supplies, and economic growth.
The IoT will play a key role in providing the efficiency improvements required to meet sustainability goals. Forrest predicts that demand for sustainability-related services powered by the IoT and edge computing will grow for energy efficiency and resource management.
High-demand use cases for the IoT in 2022 are expected to include environmental monitoring, resource management, and supply chain processes.
Forrester’s full report can be found here (paywall)
(Photo by Ussama Azam on Unsplash)
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