The embedded hardware market is extremely fragmented in its composition of product form factors, customer profiles/demographics, end user industries/applications, and competitive landscape. Engineering organizations, including OEMs/ODMs, system integrators, service providers, and enterprise/industrial end users themselves, all have different requirements and preferences for embedded hardware platforms used for their product development. As a result, the embedded boards, modules, and integrated systems markets each feature distinct growth opportunities addressing the evolving nature of embedded and edge computing architectures as well as rosters of competing vendors vying for new designs and engineering projects.
This market research study examines the leading market trends impacting the total revenue opportunity as well as the competitive landscape for a wide variety of embedded component and system form factors, including computer- on-modules, system-on-modules, motherboards, single-board computers, integrated computing systems and servers, and others. This report delivers research-driven commentary on the biggest developments and players influencing the commercial embedded hardware market and its future supplier ecosystem. The report is accompanied by leading vendor market share data for each form factor under study and for the integrated computing systems and server market segmented by vertical market as well as Voice of the Engineer survey data.
What Questions are Addressed?
How large is the total addressable market opportunity and outlook for merchant embedded boards, modules, integrated systems, and embedded/OEM servers?
Who are the leading suppliers for different form factors of merchant embedded modules, motherboards, single-board computers, integrated systems, and embedded/OEM servers?
What are the key product, service, and corporate differentiators of leading providers in the market and which will be most important for gaining share over the next five years?
Which selection criteria are most important to engineering organizations of different types when sourcing different embedded hardware form factors?
Who Should Read this Report?
This report was written for those making critical decisions regarding product, market, channel, and competitive strategy and tactics. This report is intended for senior decision-makers who are developing, or are a part of the ecosystem of, IoT, embedded, and/or edge computing solutions, including:
CEO or other C-level executives
Corporate development and M&A teams
Marketing executives
Business development and sales leaders
Product development/strategy leaders
Channel management/strategy leaders
Technology Suppliers in this Report:
AAEON Technologies
Abaco Systems
ADLINK Technology
Advantech
AMD
Arm
Avalue Technology
Axiomtek
BAE Systems
Beckhoff Automation
Cisco
congatec
Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions
Dell Technologies OEM Solutions
Digi International
duagon
Eurotech
EVOC
Fujitsu Technology Solutions
General Dynamics Mission Systems
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
IBASE Technology
IBM
IEI Integration Corp.
Inspur
Intel
Kontron
L3 Technologies
Lanner Electronics
Lenovo OEM
Leonardo DRS
MediaTek
Mercury Systems
MiTAC Computing
MPL
MSI
NEC Corporation
NVIDIA
OnLogic
PHYTEC
Portwell
Qualcomm
Radisys
Raspberry Pi
RTD Embedded
SECO
Semtech
Shenzhen NORCO
Intelligent Technology
Silicon Labs
Supermicro Computer
Texas Instruments
Toradex
Tria Technologies
VersaLogic
VIA Technologies
... and many others.
Demand-side Research Overview
VDC launches numerous surveys of the IoT and embedded engineering ecosystem every year using an online survey platform. Our global Voice of the Engineer survey in 2024 captured insights from a total of 600 qualified respondents. To support this research, VDC leverages its in-house panel of over 30,000 individuals from various roles and industries across the world. This survey was used to inform our insight into key trends, preferences, and predictions within the engineering community.
Executive Summary
The embedded hardware market is hotly contested with a variety of established players and new organizations joining the fray to diversify their businesses via access to a healthy marketspace that features strong long-term growth prospects. Edge computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), computer vision, operational AI, and machine learning will remain critical market growth drivers over the next several years, enabling highly valuable solution capabilities and services for end users in operational environments. Although embedded hardware deployment lifetimes remain protracted and still extend beyond a decade (or even a few decades) in some safety-/mission- critical applications, the pace of innovation in the market has accelerated on the back of rapid advancements in processor technology, edge AI models, workload optimization, and cloud-native software development. Engineering organizations of various origins, types, sizes, and target markets will continue to demand a wide range of hardware platforms and development solutions that no single vendor can completely satisfy on their own.
Competition in the embedded boards, modules, and integrated systems market is multi-dimensional, with several different technical and business elements separating the market leaders from the rest. From a technical perspective, embedded hardware providers continue to compete on core metrics such as performance, power consumption, size/weight/area, pre-certification, and price. However, new considerations related to dedicated workload performance, accelerator integration/support, embedded security, connectivity enablement, and a growing list of other factors are changing the status quo. On the business/strategic side, a trusted supply chain extending from embedded hardware inception to deployment is crucial for preserving the integrity of the final deployed systems or infrastructure. Many engineering organizations also require the tier 1 business services commonly associated with leading enterprise/IT technology suppliers that are also serving the embedded/OEM market.
The embedded hardware space and its competitive landscape are changing at an unprecedented rate in response to the rapid evolution of developer/engineer requirements, device/system stacks, and the associated large and growing revenue opportunity enabling IoT, embedded, and edge computing solutions.
Key Findings:
The total addressable market for merchant embedded boards, modules, and system/servers worldwide amounted to more than $36B in 2023.
The embedded hardware market for all form factors is highly fragmented with a long tail of smaller suppliers focused on supporting the development of specific target system types or OT applications.
Only a few organizations have established leadership across multiple embedded hardware market form factors, such as Advantech, ADLINK, Kontron, Mercury Systems, and Supermicro.
Several leading embedded/OEM system and server providers, such as Dell Technologies, HPE, IBM, Lenovo, and Supermicro, continue to bring product and technology advancements from the enterprise/HPC domains to their edge computing solutions.
VDC's Voice of the Engineer survey results indicate that the importance of software support/compatibility, product availability, networking capabilities, and process technology vary considerably between different engineering communities and form factors.
Table of Contents
Technology Suppliers in this Report
Demand-side Research Overview
Executive Summary
Key Findings
Global Market Overview
Edge Computing Drives Widespread Hardware Demand
Application Optimization and Support Gets Deeper
Regulations are Expanding in Different Embedded Industries
Expectations for Developer Support are Higher than Ever
Workload Accelerators Drive Further Fragmentation
Silicon Technology Providers are Expanding Their Influence
Industry & Project Type Have a Major Impact on the Importance of Different Systems Criteria
Standard Hardware Platforms are Preferred by Many
Vendor Profiles
About the Authors
About VDC Research
List of Report Exhibits*
Exhibit 1: Global Market for Embedded Boards and Modules Segmented by Form Factor, 2023-2028 Exhibit 2 Global Market for Embedded Systems & Servers Segmented by Form Factor, 2023-2028
Exhibit 3: Leading Embedded Motherboard Vendor Shares Segmented by Form Factor, 2023
Exhibit 4: Leading Embedded Computing Module & Card Vendor Shares Segmented by Form Factor, 2023
Exhibit 5: Leading Embedded Integrated Computer System & Server Vendor Shares Segmented by Vertical Market, 2023
Exhibit 6: Most Important Selection Criteria for Embedded Computing Modules, Motherboards, and Single-board Computers Exhibit 7 Most Important Selection Criteria for Embedded Integrated Computer Systems & Servers
Exhibit 8: Primary Configuration of the Embedded Systems/Subsystems Purchased/Sourced
List of Market Data Exhibits*
Exhibit 1: Desktop Class Motherboards, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023 Exhibit 2 ITX Class Motherboards, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023
Exhibit 3: Embedded/Stackable Class Motherboards, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023 Exhibit 4 Slot Single Board Computers & CPU Blades, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023 Exhibit 5 PC/104 Family Modules, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023
Exhibit 18: EICSS in Medical, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023 Exhibit 19 EICSS in Retail, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023
Exhibit 20: EICSS in Transportation, Vendor Shares, Revenue, 2023
IoT & Embedded Engineering Survey*
Exhibit 1: Primary Role Within Company/Organization Exhibit 2 Respondent's Organization's Primary Industry
Exhibit 3: Total Number of Employees at Respondent's Organization Exhibit 4 Primary Region of Residence
Exhibit 5: Primary Country of Residence
Exhibit 6: Type of Most Current or Recent Project Exhibit 7 Involvement with Engineering
Exhibit 8: Type of Purchase by Respondent's Organization Exhibit 9 Primary Industry Classification of Project
Exhibit 10: Type of Aerospace & Defense Application for Most Recent Project Exhibit 11 Type of Automotive In-Vehicle Application for Most Recent Project
Exhibit 12: Type of Communications & Networking Application for Most Recent Project Exhibit 13 Type of Consumer Electronics Application for Most Recent Project
Exhibit 14: Type of Digital Security Application for Most Recent Project
* Partial list of the 416 IoT & Embedded Technology Voice of the Engineer Survey Exhibits.