Where Is the Money for IoT?

10 Nov 2014 • 1 minute read

I attended the Gartner Semiconductor briefing on Oct. 23, 2014, the theme of which was “The Internet of Things: Use Cases that Move Beyond the Hype.” Most attendees were from the semiconductor industry, of course.

Huge numbers like the following were thrown out:

In 2020, 8+ billion things shipped in one year.
This will generate 35 billion semiconductor devices requiring 6 million wafers in 2020.

One chart that particularly interested me came from John Barber’s presentation on the Internet of Things (IoT) use cases. He said most IoT-related revenue will come from the services and the software; the hardware that will be shipped in volumes soaring into the billions will mostly have ASPs of $1 or $2.

So how would the folks in the semi industry make money from IOT?

Should the semiconductor folks start offering value-added software?
Should the semiconductor folks start offering value-added services?
What type of software and services could hardware providers provide in the form of IP to the software companies to help them develop better and more differentiated products?

Michele Reitz, in her presentation “Wearable Electronics: The Path From Dreams to Reality,” described where new technologies need to be delivered for IoT to become reality. This cannot be done without IP and hardware innovation.

Cadence Tensilica DSP IP is the power core that could enable the “always-on” functions like “Hey Siri” and “OK Google.” The Tensilica HiFi DSP core lets device makers offload these functions from the applications processor, significantly extending battery life. The core’s flexibility allows hardware customers to build their parts and systems in ways that that they can leverage software to differentiate themselves. That’s where imagination and innovation take flight. Cadence’s complete suite of verification IP and other verification solutions helps accelerate innovation’s time to market, ushering in a new era of IoT devices limited only by imagination.

So when you hear people say “most money in IoT is going to be in software and services,” don’t be discouraged. Software and services don’t exist without hardware, where there is tons of money is to be made. We are the foundation of innovation!!!

Seow Lim

- IoT Focus: Wrestling with the Design, Time to Market, and Cost Challenges of IoT

- IoT Focus: IoT Applications Require a New Architectural Vision