Global spending continues to be on an upward swing in both robotics and drones, according to an updated forecast by the International Data Corporation (IDC). In its Worldwide Semiannual Robotics and Drones Spending Guide, IDC projects worldwide spending on robotics systems and drones will total $115.7 billion in 2019, an increase of 17.6 percent over 2018. By 2022, IDC expects this spending will reach $210.3 billion with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.2 percent.
Robotics systems will be the larger of the two categories throughout the five-year forecast period with worldwide robotics spending forecast to be $103.4 billion in 2019, according to IDC. Investments in drones will total $12.3 billion in 2019, but are forecast to grow at a faster rate (30.6 percent CAGR) than robotics systems (18.9 percent CAGR).
Robotics spending in 2019 will be dominated by hardware purchases, with nearly two thirds of all spending going toward robotic systems, after-market robotics hardware, and system hardware. Purchases of industrial robots and service robots will deliver nearly 30 percent of the category total in 2019. Robotics-related software spending will largely go toward purchases of command and control applications and robotics-specific applications. Services spending will be spread across several segments, including systems integration, application management, and hardware deployment and support. Software spending is forecast to grow at a slightly faster rate (21.7 percent CAGR) than services or hardware spending (19.0 percent CAGR and 18.2percent CAGR, respectively).
Discrete manufacturing will be responsible for nearly half of all robotics systems spending worldwide in 2019, generating $50.2 billion in revenues. The next largest industries for robotics systems will be process manufacturing, resource industries, healthcare, and consumers. The industries that will see the fastest growth in robotics spending over the 2017-2022 forecast are wholesale (31.4 percent CAGR), retail (29.6 percent CAGR), and construction (28.1 percent CAGR). By 2022, IDC expects retail will overtake consumer spending on robotics systems.
According to IDC, spending on drones will also be dominated by hardware purchases, with roughly 90 percent of the category total going toward drones and after-market drone hardware. Consumer drones will account for roughly 40 percent of the category total in 2019 with service drones delivering another 18 percent. Similar to robotics systems, drone software spending will primarily go to command and control applications and drone-specific applications. Services spending will be led by education and training and will see the fastest growth (35.9 percent CAGR) over the five-year forecast, followed by software (33.9 percent CAGR) and hardware (30.1 percent CAGR).
Consumer spending on drones will total $5.1 billion in 2019, accounting for a little over 40 percent of the worldwide total. Industry spending on drones in 2019 will be led by utilities ($1.4 billion), construction ($1.05 billion), and discrete manufacturing ($913 million). The industries that will experience the fastest growth in drone spending over the five-year forecast period will be federal/central government (56.0 percent CAGR), education (51.0percent CAGR), and retail (42.01 percent CAGR). By 2022, IDC expects the resource industry to move ahead of both construction and discrete manufacturing to become the second largest industry for drone spending.
On a geographic basis, China will be the largest region for drones and robotics systems with overall spending of $38.5 billion in 2019. Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China) (APeJC) will be the second largest region with $23.3 billion in spending, followed by the United States ($17.2 billion) and Western Europe ($13.0 billion). China will also be the leading region for robotics systems with $36.1 billion in spending this year. The United States will be the largest region for drones in 2019 at $4.8 billion. China will deliver the fastest spending growth in both categories with a five-year CAGR of 24.6 percent for robotics systems and 63.5 percent for drones.