The growing demand for intelligent living and the promotion of supportive policies have significantly boosted the popularity of smart meters. Powered by the Internet of Things (IoT), smart meters have witnessed remarkable technological advancements. The government’s tiered pricing strategy has further accelerated the industry's growth. In 2023, the overall market size for smart electricity, water, and gas meters is expected to surpass 40 billion yuan, signaling a promising future for the smart instrumentation sector. Let’s explore this exciting field with the help of network communication.
China’s instrumentation industry has experienced rapid market expansion over the years. From 2011 to 2016, the industry saw consistent growth. In 2014, sales revenue exceeded 800 billion yuan, reaching 818.6 billion yuan—a 6.6% increase. By 2016, sales had grown to 935.5 billion yuan, reflecting a 7.5% rise. These figures highlight the steady progress of the sector.
[Chart 1: Sales revenue and growth of China’s instrument and meter manufacturing industry from 2011 to 2017 (in 100 million yuan, %)]
[Image: China’s smart instrument IoT industry forecast and smart instrument development prospects]
Intelligent instrumentation integrates emerging technologies such as computer science, electronics, digital signal processing, and artificial intelligence with traditional measurement methods. It enables fully automated operations, ensuring accurate measurements while saving energy and data. Through advanced storage and computing logic, it helps energy providers optimize resource distribution. For example, a 0.1% improvement in natural gas metering accuracy could reduce gas losses by 1.8 billion cubic meters annually, leading to significant economic benefits. Smart meters also allow real-time transmission of electricity usage data to power companies, enabling precise on-demand power distribution and reducing waste.
Sensor technology plays a vital role in the performance of smart meters. Common sensor technologies include pulse technology and direct reading technology. Photoelectric direct reading sensors are passive devices that visually display energy consumption data and can output signals or data. Compared to traditional pulse-based sensors, they offer higher accuracy, longer lifespan, valve control features, easier installation, debugging, no need for initialization, low maintenance, and short-circuit protection. While pulse technology is still widely used in China due to historical reasons, the shift toward direct reading technology is gaining momentum, with more smart meters adopting photoelectric direct reading sensors.
The domestic sensor market has been expanding rapidly, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 20%. In 2011, the market was valued at 48 billion yuan, and by 2016, it had reached 112.6 billion yuan.
[Chart 2: China’s sensor market scale from 2011 to 2017 (in 100 million yuan)]
[Image: China’s smart instrument IoT industry forecast and smart instrument development prospects]
In recent years, the number of sensor-related patent applications in China has steadily increased. In 2015, the number reached a peak of 11,883, followed by 11,653 in 2016 and 6,001 in 2017. This trend reflects the growing innovation and investment in sensor technology.
[Chart 3: Number of sensor-related patent applications in China from 2011 to 2017 (in pieces)]
[Image: China’s smart instrument IoT industry forecast and smart instrument development prospects]
The Internet of Things (IoT) serves as a crucial technical foundation for the development of smart meters. As IoT expands its application areas, it opens up new markets for the instrumentation industry, creating value in fields like energy efficiency, urban planning, and environmental monitoring. With smart meters as the core, these sectors can be further enhanced.
China’s IoT industrial chain has matured, with rapid growth in industrial scale. Technologies such as automatic control, information sensing, and radio frequency identification are well-developed. Communication operators and system equipment providers have reached world-class standards, and downstream applications continue to expand. IoT is now widely used in security monitoring, intelligent transportation, smart grids, and logistics.
Currently, the scale of China’s IoT market continues to grow. In 2016, the industry reached 930 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24%. It is projected that by 2020, the total market size will exceed 1.8 trillion yuan.
[Chart 4: Size and growth of China’s IoT market from 2011 to 2017 (in 100 million yuan)]
[Image: China’s smart instrument IoT industry forecast and smart instrument development prospects]
According to the “Action Plan for Accelerating the Development of Sensors and Intelligent Instrumentation Industry†issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the goal is to bring the sensor and intelligent instrumentation industry to world-leading levels by 2025. The transformation from “production-oriented manufacturing†to “service-oriented manufacturing†involves key industries and national defense projects, aiming for independent production and control of essential sensors and instruments. The share of high-end products and services is expected to exceed 50%.
Looking ahead, the Chinese intelligent instrumentation industry has vast potential for growth over the next 10–15 years. According to Prospective Industry Research Institute, the market size for smart meters, water meters, and gas meters is expected to exceed 40 billion yuan in 2023. With strong support from technology and policy, the smart meter industry is entering a fast lane, set to unlock significant market opportunities.
[Chart 5: Forecast of China’s smart instrument industry market size from 2018 to 2023 (in 100 million yuan)]
[Image: China’s smart instrument IoT industry forecast and smart instrument development prospects]
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