Smart manufacturing market seen topping $841 billion by 2030

The Business Research Company says the global smart manufacturing market is on track to exceed $841 billion by 2030, with Asia-Pacific and China leading growth. Software is expected to remain the biggest segment as factories invest more in automation, analytics and connected production.

Why it matters: - Smart manufacturing is becoming a core part of the industrial technology stack as factories adopt automation, industrial IoT, AI analytics and digital production systems. - The market’s projected scale points to sustained demand across software, hardware and services, with implications for manufacturers, suppliers and technology vendors. - Asia-Pacific’s rapid expansion and China’s size make regional manufacturing strategy increasingly important for global competitors.

What happened: - The Business Research Company released its Smart Manufacturing Global Market Report 2026, covering market size, growth trends, segments and key competitors through 2035. - The report projects the smart manufacturing market will exceed $841 billion by 2030. - The market is expected to grow at a 13% compound annual growth rate through 2030. - Asia-Pacific is projected to be the largest regional market in 2030 at $382 billion, up from $182 billion in 2025. - China is forecast to be the largest national market in 2030 at $196 billion, rising from $91 billion in 2025.

The details: - Smart manufacturing is projected to represent about 23% of the broader smart technology market in 2030 and close to 6% of the overall information technology industry. - Software is expected to be the largest component segment in 2030 at $499 billion, or 59% of the market. - The market’s technology base includes manufacturing execution systems, programmable logic controllers, enterprise resource planning, supervisory control and data acquisition, discrete control systems, machine vision and 3D printing. - Key end users include automotive, aerospace and defense, chemicals and materials, healthcare, industrial equipment, electronics, food and agriculture, and oil and gas. - Combined hardware, software and services opportunities are expected to generate more than $384 billion by 2030. - Over the five years to 2030, hardware is expected to add $61 billion, software $279 billion and services $44 billion. - Siemens AG led global smart manufacturing sales in 2025 with a 5% market share. - ABB Ltd. held 3%, SAP SE held 2%, Honeywell International Inc. held 2%, Rockwell Automation held 1%, and General Electric Company held 0.5%. - Emerson Electric, Fanuc Corporation, Hitachi Ltd. and Omron Corporation held 0.3%, 0.3%, 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. - The top 10 companies accounted for about 15% of total revenue in 2025, indicating a moderately fragmented market. - Hitachi Ltd. opened an AI center of excellence in March 2025 focused on integrating AI across industrial systems, robotics, sensors and automation.

Between the lines: - The report points to a market shaped by heavy integration requirements, cybersecurity needs and interoperability standards, which can slow consolidation and keep competition broad. - Growth is being supported by Industry 4.0 investment, predictive maintenance demand and government incentives for digital manufacturing. - The strongest use cases are practical ones: reducing downtime, improving asset use, increasing safety and improving real-time visibility on the factory floor. - Software leadership suggests manufacturers are prioritizing platforms that connect production data, planning systems and analytics rather than only buying physical equipment.

What's next: - The report expects continued adoption of connected factory systems, industrial IoT platforms, AI-driven analytics and automated manufacturing tools. - Competition is likely to intensify as vendors expand smart factory ecosystems and deepen partnerships across automation and digital manufacturing. - Manufacturers in electronics, automotive and other capital-intensive industries are likely to remain early adopters because of the payoff from predictive maintenance and process optimization. - The Business Research Company says its 2026 reports include market attractiveness scoring, TAM analysis, company scoring matrices, forecasting dashboards and trend analysis.

The bottom line: - Smart manufacturing is moving from a niche industrial upgrade to a large-scale technology market led by software, automation and AI-enabled factory operations.