The Fourth Industrial Revolution is well underway, set to reshape industries by driving greater efficiency, automation, and connectivity across the global economy. It’s not just about the emergence of new technologies, but about how those technologies—like AI, IoT, and 5G—are working together to transform how businesses operate.
Understanding the what, how, why, and especially the where of this revolution is key, because that’s where business dollars are flowing.
And where the business dollars flow, so too do the profits, making those companies the ones where investors should put their capital to work.
An Expanding IoT Is What Drives the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is all about technology and its enhancement of efficiency. Enhancements focus on improved capability, capacity, and productivity, which ultimately gets more from each worker for less cost. That means machines and IoT.
The IoT, or Internet of Things, refers to all the devices that can connect and are connected to the Internet. Although it is not new, the IoT has been growing at a double-digit CAGR for years and is now on the cusp of a widespread surge, including increased adoption and penetration.
The estimates vary, but one analyst puts IoT device growth at a 13% CAGR through 2030 while another forecasts global industry value growing at an 18% CAGR, nearly tripling to over $170 billion by 2030.
IoT devices range from workstations and business networks to remote devices, monitors, cameras, and machines that perform various tasks.
Rockwell Automation Today
- 52-Week Range
- $215.00
▼
$360.92
- Dividend Yield
- 1.46%
- P/E Ratio
- 45.20
- Price Target
- $341.11
Obvious winners include stocks like Zebra Technologies NASDAQ: ZBRA and Rockwell Automation NYSE: ROK, but others exist, including warehouse automator Symbotic NASDAQ: SYM and even mega caps like Apple NASDAQ: AAPL and Meta Platforms NASDAQ: META.
Their consumer technologies will help bring the IoT to life in meaningful ways for billions of humans globally.
Zebra Technologies and Rockwell Automation are well-positioned as leaders in remote and manufacturing technologies.
5G Is How the Fourth Industrial Revolution Will Accelerate
Verizon Communications Today
- 52-Week Range
- $37.58
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$47.35
- Dividend Yield
- 6.29%
- P/E Ratio
- 10.05
- Price Target
- $47.35
As much promise as the IoT holds for businesses and consumers, it hasn’t seen the surge it could have due to connectivity issues. 5G changes all of that. 5G networks provide the speeds and bandwidth necessary for the IoT to function.
5G networks are coming online globally, expected to reach critical mass in 2025, and are underpinning device growth.
The latest results from Verizon NYSE: VZ, a key player in 5G, underscore the potential. Its devices business grew 15% sequentially and 25% year-over-year, showing strength in both the consumer and business segments.
Other 5G winners include up-and-coming AST SpaceMobile NASDAQ: ASTS. Its network of near-Earth mobile-oriented satellites has begun to come online, and the business is booming. Partnerships with major carriers include Verizon.
Contracts include those with the U.S. government to provide continuous, space-based 5G services in support of national defense initiatives.
The outlook for its growth is a quadruple-digit gain in 2025, followed by several years of high-triple-digit growth that likely underestimate its strength.
AI Is Accelerating the Fourth Industrial Revolution
AI is why the Fourth Industrial Revolution is expected to accelerate in 2025. The IoT laid the groundwork, but it needed 5G to operate at a high level; 5G opened the door for rapid advancements that AI will now power. NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA is the critical player in AI, as it provides the foundation for models, training, and infrastructure-supporting business services and inference. Other winners include AMD NASDAQ: AMD, which is poised to accelerate its growth with new products targeting cloud hyperscalers and the AI software companies that utilize them.
Microsoft Today
As of 07/25/2025 04:00 PM Eastern
- 52-Week Range
- $344.79
▼
$518.29
- Dividend Yield
- 0.65%
- P/E Ratio
- 39.70
- Price Target
- $551.21
Microsoft NASDAQ: MSFT is the standout winner in terms of software, AI, and its impact on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A hyperscaler critical to AI infrastructure, it is also a business-oriented SaaS operating across sectors and industry verticals.
It is expected to sustain double-digit growth in 2025 and is anticipated to continue through the middle of the next decade, providing solid cash flows and returning capital throughout.
Its stock price recently broke to new highs, setting it on track to reach the $600 level by late 2025 or early 2026.
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