UK vs US: Diverging Paths in IoT Adoption

Eseye

IoT Hardware and Connectivity Specialists

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Over the past five years, IoT has moved from experimental pilots into the engine room of business transformation. Both the UK and US have been at the forefront of this shift, building connected estates that are reshaping industries from manufacturing to healthcare.

But by 2025, their trajectories are no longer aligned. The US continues to scale with confidence, investing in large-scale deployments despite mounting technical complexity and economic headwinds. The UK, on the other hand, has slowed — pulling back on budgets and growth plans under the pressure of weak economic growth and policy caution.

This divergence matters. IoT is no longer just a technology experiment. It’s a proven driver of operational efficiency, resilience, and now sustainability. Understanding how two of the world’s most advanced IoT markets are responding will help businesses everywhere decide where to double down, where to adapt, and where they risk falling behind.

For the full picture, you can explore all the data and analysis in the 2025 State of IoT Report. But let’s dive into the story of the UK and US today.

Deployment scale: from pilots to enterprise estates

Since 2021, both the UK and US have decisively moved beyond the proof-of-concept stage. Mid-size deployments of 1,001–10,000 devices are now standard. In the UK, adoption in this range jumped from 51% in 2021 to 76% in 2025.

Look at the bigger estates and the numbers align closely: 59% of UK and 58% of US companies now manage more than 5,000 devices. On the surface, it seems like both regions are level.

But dig deeper and you see a gap. The US has more enterprises that have broken through into the top tier: 20% of American companies now manage estates of 10,000–100,000 devices, compared with just 14% in the UK. The US hasn’t slowed its enterprise-scale momentum since 2021. The UK is progressing but struggling to make that same leap.

Growth intentions: diverging ambitions

Ambition tells us as much as current scale. Back in 2021, both regions were bullish. Sixty-four percent of UK organisations and 80% of US companies planned to grow their IoT estates.

Fast forward to 2025 and the divergence is stark. UK intent has slipped to 57%. The US remains at a confident 75%.

Budgets underline this split. UK planned increases collapsed from 91% in 2021 to just 33% in 2025. US organisations also dialed back, but not nearly as sharply — down from 86% to 61%.

Across both regions, manufacturing (76%) and supply chain (87%) are leading the charge in planned IoT growth and investment. These sectors see IoT as a foundation for efficiency, resilience, and new value creation. What’s striking is how, in the US, this growth continues against a backdrop of uncertainty. New executive orders, shifting tariffs, and a move toward protectionist trade policies are reshaping global supply chains. American leaders are contending with falling demand and price inflation, yet many remain focused on scaling IoT to maintain agility and competitive edge.

In the UK, by contrast, macroeconomic pressures have prompted many businesses to put expansion on hold. IoT is increasingly treated as a discretionary line item, rather than a strategic lever. And that risks stalling progress just as global industries like manufacturing and logistics double down on connected devices.

Why has UK momentum slowed?

The UK’s momentum slowdown isn’t about technology. It’s about economics and policy.

• Weak growth and investment pressure: GDP has flat lined, with contractions in parts of 2025. Rising business costs, high taxes, and interest burdens have dented corporate confidence. Companies are cutting capital expenditure and hiring has dropped to pandemic levels.
• Policy restraint: While the 2025 UK budget offered modest R&D increases, it fell short of sparking real innovation. Regulatory signals are skewing toward caution, making companies think twice before committing to large-scale IoT programmes.
• Falling foreign investment: Despite efforts to attract capital, overseas investment and new tech incorporations declined through early 2025, limiting the flow of funds for ambitious IoT rollouts.

The result: UK organisations appear to be stuck in a holding pattern, even as the business case for scaling IoT grows stronger.

Different challenges on the ground

The barriers to IoT adoption aren’t the same everywhere.

• UK: The leading challenge in 2025 is device-level performance and complexity, cited by 22% of businesses. That reflects a clear shift. In 2021, the biggest hurdle was global cellular connectivity (41%). By 2022, it was managing multiple carrier contracts (24%). In 2023, it was achieving reliable connectivity across regions (21%). By 2024, device security (30%) came to the fore. Today, complexity at the device level tops the list. And connectivity issues remain unresolved — only 1% of UK organisations reach the 98% uptime needed for mission-critical use cases like healthcare.

• US: American companies wrestled with IoT device security in 2021 (41%) and 2022 (23%). Since 2023, however, the primary challenge has shifted and stayed consistent: accessing the right technical IoT support. Even with budgets intact, scaling depends on expertise, and the US market is feeling that shortage.

• Shared concerns: Hardware reliability and ongoing maintenance remain persistent challenges for both markets — a clear symptom of the complexity that comes with managing estates at scale.

Strategic benefits: from profit to purpose

At the beginning of this journey, IoT was primarily framed as a profit driver. Between 2021 and 2024, both UK and US organisations reported “increased revenue” as the top benefit of IoT deployments.

By 2025, the narrative has changed. Sustainability is now the number one reported benefit in both markets — cited by 44% of UK companies and 45% in the US.

This is a pivotal shift. In Europe, it aligns with regulatory and public pressure for greener operations. In the US, it’s more surprising — and perhaps even counterintuitive. With investment and scaling still high on the agenda, one might expect profitability to remain the priority. Yet the data shows something different: American executives increasingly see IoT as a lever for ESG goals and operational resilience in the face of global disruption.

What does this tell us? That IoT’s role is maturing. It’s no longer just about cutting costs or boosting revenue. It’s about enabling organisations to operate sustainably, meet regulatory expectations, and strengthen long-term resilience. For leaders still focused narrowly on ROI, this should be a wake-up call. The definition of IoT success is evolving — and so must your strategy.

A tale of two speeds

What started in 2021 as two fast-growing markets has become a story of divergence. The US is accelerating into large-scale deployments, building resilience through connectivity, edge computing, and sustainability-led initiatives. The UK, while still mature, is slowing down — with investment cutbacks, shrinking growth intent, and persistent device-level complexity challenges.

The danger for the UK isn’t adoption. It’s ambition. Without a renewed focus on scale and innovation, UK enterprises risk falling behind their transatlantic counterparts. Vendors in the region need to pivot, emphasising cost optimisation, modular scaling, and regulatory resilience rather than simply pushing for big-bang rollouts.

IoT is a critical lever for competitiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. The US knows it — and continues to scale. The UK has the capability but risks losing momentum at a crucial moment.

The message is simple: if you’re not scaling your IoT strategy now, you’re ceding ground to those who are.

In this article

• Deployment scale: from pilots to enterprise estates
• Growth intentions: diverging ambitions
• Why has UK momentum slowed?
• Different challenges on the ground
• Strategic benefits: from profit to purpose
• A tale of two speeds