Covid-19 forces enterprises to increase 5G spend, report claims

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A new report looking at enterprise spend in the US and China reveals that more investment is being channelled into areas such as 5G, AI, edge computing, and IoT.

(Image credit: Wind River)

A new report from Wind River, a software company specialising in intelligent edge products, shows that spend on 5G projects has significantly increased since the coronavirus pandemic, highlighting that – whilst 5G rollout may be stalling – the focus on 5G investment amongst enterprises is increasing.

The Wind River study surveyed 400 executives within enterprises with revenues ranging from $100 million to $1 billion, and online research was conducted from April 12 to April 20, 2020 (for respondents in the US), and from April 16 to April 23, 2020 (for respondents in China).

And the survey found that those enterprises looking to digitally transform are placing over 50% more focus on key investment areas such as 5G, containers, and cloud native. And the research findings among these leaders indicate that they understand the core technology components that will be vital for digital transformation. 

5G investment increases

The Wind River report highlighted that investment in 5G projects in the wake of coronavirus had increased significantly:

  • 5G project spend increased by 63% in China, and 37% in the US. 
  • Cloud-based app dev increased by 62% in China, and 35% in the US
  • AI development had increased by 61% in China, 37% in US
  • Container-based development had gone up by 56% in China, 38% in US
  • IoT project spend had gone up by 60% in China, 33% in US
  • Investment in applications at the edge went up by 57% in China, 25% in US

“Prior to the pandemic, the vast majority of corporations were looking toward advancing their digital transformation. However, we’ve entered a different landscape that is triggering leaders in DevOps and IoT development to make profound decisions about the speed and nature of their technology investments,” said Kevin Dallas, president and chief executive officer, Wind River.

“As we’ve seen from our study, in this Covid-19–shocked world, those most optimistic about the future of their business and the direction of their technology and development investments are the enterprises viewing this as a time to accelerate and even change the nature of that transformation.”

The survey comprised senior management at the C-suite and VP level (33%), senior management (41%), and departmental management (26%). And technology areas included 15% robotics, 21% instrumentation, 39% DevOps, 51% cybersecurity, and 63% network security and data centers.

You can download the full report – titled ‘COVID-19 and Corporate Strategies in the U.S. and China: A Seismic Event Demanding Change and Action from Top Executives’ – here.

Dan Oliver
Dan Oliver

Dan is a British journalist with 20 years of experience in the design and tech sectors, producing content for the likes of Microsoft, Adobe, Dell and The Sunday Times. In 2012 he helped launch the world's number one design blog, Creative Bloq. Dan is now editor-in-chief at 5Gradar, where he oversees news, insight and reviews, providing an invaluable resource for anyone looking to stay up-to-date with the key issues facing 5G.