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Edge AI Is Taking Over—What That Means for the Future of IoT

Plus, this week's top stories from IoT For All

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IoT For All
March 13, 2025

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Hello readers,

Welcome to the IoT For All newsletter! We’ll be talking how the tech industry is making moves towards edge AI, how IoT can help secure construction sites, and more!

Big Tech Is Betting on AI at the Edge

AI is descending from the cloud. While much of the AI industry hype is heaped on advances like OpenAI’s perpetually upcoming GPT-5 and the era of agentic AI, IoT is preparing a happy home for the models that already exist. This month, at MWC 2025 and Embedded World 2025, we’ve seen big moves by tech industry heavy hitters like Qualcomm to make edge AI the next frontier of AI advancement.

The benefits of pairing AI and IoT are very clear. When it comes to collecting massive volumes of data for training AI solutions, there’s nothing quite as straightforward as grabbing the constant data streams from hundreds or thousands or millions of IoT sensors. In theory, at least. In practice, the logistical, security, bandwidth, and infrastructural concerns with sending this data back and forth to the cloud (i.e. a data center far away) can quickly outweigh the potential benefits.

But as edge devices become more capable of processing data directly on the factory floor, in vehicles, or in hospitals, issues with latency or low connectivity begin to fade.

And this is where we are seeing industry leaders begin to throw their weight. Last month, Qualcomm announced “Dragonwing,” a line of chips for industrial and embedded IoT, networking, and cellular infrastructure—distinct from its Snapdragon lineup for consumer electronics. This week, Qualcomm put more money where its mouth is with its acquisition of Edge Impulse and its end-to-end edge AI platform.

Not to be outdone, Taiwanese semiconductor company MediaTek has announced its own edge-AI IoT platforms in the Genio 720 and Genio 520 chipsets, optimized for large language models (LLMs) such as Llama, Gemini, Phi and DeepSeek. The IoT division of ASUS, meanwhile, has announced a more complete solution for a similar purpose: the RUC-1000G, a 19-inch 2U edge AI computer for industrial applications, alongside a slew of other edge-AI focused devices.

There are, of course, still challenges to overcome. AI solutions are notoriously power-hungry, meaning that edge AI implementations will be more constrained than cloud-based alternatives, if not by the computing power of the devices, then by heat concerns and power costs that implementers will have to take on directly. That’s not to mention the rabbit hole of interoperability troubleshooting.

But as the announcements from this month indicate, there is a strong demand (current and anticipated) to bring AI directly to the job site. The question isn’t if AI will move to the edge, but how fast and how far. Will businesses embrace these new capabilities, or will adoption lag behind the hype? And what happens when AI systems can learn, adapt, and act in real-time—without needing the cloud at all?

📖 Top Articles

Securing Construction Sites: How IoT Is Stopping Theft

Construction sites are highly dynamic environments where materials, tools, and heavy machinery worth millions are often left exposed to theft, vandalism, and unauthorized access. The financial burden of stolen equipment is substantial, but the indirect costs are even greater. Traditional security measures such as fencing, lighting, and on-site guards provide some level of deterrence but often fail to prevent incidents before they escalate. But IoT can help.

E-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers are no strangers to the Internet of Things. It is beneficial for tracking fleets and monitoring inventory.  However, many don’t realize the extent of the business opportunities it can create. If they leverage it strategically, they can enhance their offerings’ value and drive customer loyalty, ultimately increasing sales revenue.

Low power wide area (LPWA) networks are a class of wireless networks that can be used for IoT applications where cellular might not be an option or where the IoT application has certain requirements that better fit LPWA networks. The use and connectivity of LPWA networks are set to rise! Cellular IoT networks are a great option for myriad Internet of Things (IoT) use cases, but at times, non-cellular technologies are required or are more desirable.

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🔥 Rapid Fire

🎙️ The IoT For All Podcast

No new podcast this week, but check out of last edition where we spoke with Martin Nord, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Com4, to discuss navigating modern IoT connectivity. The conversation covers key connectivity challenges across industries, the impact of iSIM and multi-IMSI, customer-centric IoT strategies, satellite IoT, the transformative potential of IoT and AI, low-power wide-area networks, and understanding total cost of ownership for successful IoT deployments.

📘 eBooks & White Papers

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