One Billion Cellular IoT LPWAN Connections

By the end of 2025, global cellular IoT connections are projected to reach one billion, marking a significant milestone in the maturation of low-power wide-area networking (LPWAN) technologies. This a... Read original →

Reaching one billion cellular IoT connections signals LPWAN’s shift from fragmented trials to mass deployment. The NB-IoT/LTE-M standardization surge is directly boosting demand for mature-node MCUs and baseband chips, benefiting foundries like GUC. Meanwhile, 5G eRedCap’s inclusion in 3GPP Release 18 pressures Infineon and Sony Semiconductor Israel to integrate RF, baseband, and security into single-die solutions. The EU’s enforcement of IoT SAFE and SGP.32 mandates iSIM adoption, raising compliance barriers for non-EU vendors—Chinese module makers lacking iSIM capabilities risk export disruption by 2026. In response, Qualcomm may bundle eRedCap with on-device AI, while MediaTek could leverage RISC-V for industrial niches. Over the next 18 months, iSIM–eRedCap convergence will enable ultra-compact industrial sensors, accelerating edge data loops—but also expose critical gaps in EDA toolchains for low-power heterogeneous integration, prompting Siemens EDA to overhaul verification flows.