China Unveils Plan to Boost IoT Innovation (2026-2028)

The era of the Internet of Everything (IoT) is arriving. On March 31, nine ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) jointly issued the Action Plan for Promoting the Innovative Development of the Internet of Things Industry (2026—2028) (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan), according to People’s Daily Online.

The Action Plan sets two clear targets: by 2028, the number of IoT terminal connections is expected to reach 10 billion, and the scale of the core IoT industry will exceed 3.5 trillion yuan. More noteworthy than the figures is the clear path pointed out by the policy — IoT is evolving from “ubiquitous connection” to “intelligent connection of everything”.

A transformation is taking place behind this evolution. Over the past decade, the key word of IoT has been “connection”: sensors deployed, communication modules installed and network infrastructure built, bridging the physical and digital worlds. However, terminals at that time were essentially “simple” probes, responsible for collecting and passively transmitting data, with real intelligence residing in the cloud.

After more than a decade of accumulation, IoT now has the foundation for in-depth integration with artificial intelligence (AI). This means future terminals will no longer be merely data carriers, but intelligent nodes capable of independent thinking and decision-making. The clearest signal released by the policy is the in-depth integration of AI and IoT, with the Action Plan explicitly proposing to accelerate the integration of AI, 5G, human-computer interaction, edge computing and other technologies with IoT application terminals.

“The integration between AI and IoT is not a one-way empowerment, but a mutual promotion,” said Wang Wei, a senior researcher at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. He explained that large models are being lightweighted and embedded into terminal devices, with capabilities such as voice interaction, visual recognition and edge computing sinking to the device side at a visible speed. Meanwhile, IoT provides AI with real-world perception interfaces and massive application scenarios, enabling intelligence to land in all industries rather than remaining a cloud-based capability.

This is the underlying logic for the rise of edge AI. Tracks such as AI wearable devices, embodied intelligent robots and intelligent connected vehicles are on the verge of an outbreak. An institution predicts that the scale of the AI wearable market will reach 120.7 billion US dollars by 2028, and the scale of the internet of vehicles market will exceed 2 trillion yuan by 2030, reflecting the concentrated release of multiple demands including consumption upgrading, industrial transformation and modernization of social governance.

The ultimate value of IoT lies in specific scenarios, and the Action Plan outlines a clear commercial path from three dimensions: production, consumption and social governance. The implementation of all these scenarios points to a common direction: computing power sinking. From micro-nano sensors to edge servers, computing power is moving down from the cloud, enabling a qualitative leap in response speeds for industrial manufacturing, urban management and other scenarios — a leap from “interconnection” to “autonomous collaboration”, which embodies new productive forces at the micro level.

The Action Plan adopts a forward-looking package of measures. In terms of technical paths, it no longer solely emphasizes 5G, but proposes a combination of 4G and 5G, while proactively deploying satellite IoT, space-ground integration and short-range wireless communication. In terms of spatial dimension, it promotes the integration of “space-air-ground-sea” networks, weaving a seamlessly covered three-dimensional perception network that eliminates “network blind areas” in remote and complex environments and paves the way for commercial aerospace and low-altitude economy.

Most importantly, the long-standing “fragmentation” problem — closed ecosystems and inconsistent standards among manufacturers that hinder scale effects — is expected to be solved by the Action Plan, removing obstacles for the full popularization of the Internet of Everything. In the spring of 2026, the IoT industry has moved beyond the initial stage of concept speculation and partial application, stepping into a new cycle of large-scale, intelligent and systematic development.