The intralogistics market reached $96 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow at a 6.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to about $133 billion by 2030, according to IoT Analytics’ Intralogistics Market and Technology Trends Report 2026 (published October 2026). Software and mobile robots are the primary growth engines: intralogistics software is expected to expand at an 11.4% CAGR to $10.8 billion by 2030, while spending on mobile robots is projected to rise from $4.3 billion in 2025 to $8.4 billion in 2030 (about 14% CAGR).
What intralogistics includes
IoT Analytics defines intralogistics as the hardware, software, connectivity infrastructure and services used to move, store, identify, control and optimize goods and related information within a facility or site (transport between sites is excluded). The market is split into six segments: mobile material handling systems (forklifts, AGVs and AMRs, tuggers, indoor drones, and yard trucks) which account for roughly 45% of the market; fixed material handling systems (conveyors, sortation, AS/RS, cranes, palletizers, packaging, and robotic picking); identification and sensing hardware (barcode and RFID scanners, machine vision, dimensioning, safety sensors, RTLS); software (WMS, WCS/WES, digital twins, analytics); controls, network and connectivity (PLCs, wired and wireless networks, private cellular, edge gateways); and integration and consulting services (design, integration, commissioning, rental and outsourced operations).
Why intralogistics demand keeps rising
Five recurring pain points emerged from interviews and research and are driving automation: labor shortages, the need for flexibility, cost pressures, speed requirements and safety concerns.
1. Labor: retirements outpace new entrants and warehouses with labor-intensive picking report very high turnover (200–300% annually). Mattias Allring, Director Strategic Innovation at Toyota, said in March 2026: “When we talk to our customers about what keeps them awake at night, the one theme that keeps coming up again and again is a lack of skilled workers… The outflow into retirement is accelerating while at the same time the inflow from kids to working age is diminishing.”
2. Flexibility: tariffs, disruptions and changing order profiles force operators to reconfigure layouts more often, increasing demand for modular automation rather than rigid multi-year projects. Ken Ramoutar, CEO of Lucas Systems (April 2026), noted: “With all the disruption going on, we’re starting to see customers wanting more flexibility, agility, ability to change their systems quickly.”
3. Cost: high interest rates discourage new greenfield sites, so operators seek to “sweat assets” and add vertical lift modules and shuttles to increase capacity within existing buildings. Ron Egan, SVP North America Sales at Fortna (April 2026), said: “In this macroeconomic environment, the single biggest thing we hear is help us sweat our assets. It’s about getting more out of their current buildings.”
4. Speed: large catalogs and same-day/next-day delivery expectations are making goods-to-person systems and AS/RS essential. Jim Reposa, VP of Business Process Optimization at Barrett Distribution Centers (April 2026), said: “Needing to fulfill on time and accurately, in many times same day but certainly next day, is no longer a nice to have. It’s an absolute requirement.”
5. Safety: repetitive, strenuous tasks drive injuries and absenteeism; operators use robots to reduce physical strain and associated costs. Nicholas Tengelin, CEO of Rebl Industries (March 2026), said: “It’s heavy, repetitive tasks that break bodies over time… those are assignments that no human being actually should have. It should be the robots.”
Software and mobile robots: the market’s growth engines
Software is the fastest-growing segment: IoT Analytics estimates intralogistics software at $6.3 billion in 2025 and projects growth to $10.8 billion by 2030 at an 11.4% CAGR, driven by AI embedded into WMS/WES workflows and orchestration tools. Mobile robots (AMRs and AGVs among other mobile handling equipment) are a major contributor to growth within the mobile material handling segment: spending on mobile robots is forecast to grow from $4.3 billion in 2025 to $8.4 billion in 2030 (about 14% CAGR), while the broader material handling segment is expected to grow at about 5.7% CAGR. The vendor landscape is evolving: for example, in April 2026 Skild AI acquired Zebra Technologies’ robotics automation business, including Symmetry Fulfillment software and AMRs.
Vendors, competition and Chinese OEM strategies
The intralogistics market spans roughly 31 categories and draws vendors from software, equipment and connectivity sectors; most specialists focus on a few categories rather than owning the entire stack. Bridging players that appear across categories include Siemens, Honeywell, Zebra, Swisslog and Körber. Chinese OEMs are entering Western markets via three strategies: adapting products to Western rules, adding local service and competing on technology rather than price alone. Examples include HELI introducing cushion-tire forklifts for North America and Hikrobot adding certified European safety laser scanners to its mobile robots. Western vendors such as Locus Robotics and Cognex are emphasizing software orchestration to differentiate their offers. A sales representative from Locus Robotics (March 2026) summarized that the robot itself is only part of the value: “The robot is only a small part of where the value actually comes from. The value comes from the orchestration.”
Three intralogistics technology trends
Trend 1 — AI agents take on more control-desk decisions: AI agents are increasingly used to detect recurring operational situations, prepare responses and trigger actions for tasks like labor allocation, replenishment and maintenance scheduling while human operators set priorities and handle exceptions. Examples at LogiMAT 2026 include EPG’s Aura, which the vendor describes as using AI agents to reallocate resources and trigger replenishment when events occur; IGZ’s “Level 2” control tower that watches how employees respond and offers to take over recurring functions in future cases; and Reply’s Galileo Dynamic Intelligence, which lets users build agents that connect to WMS or ERP systems to extract and reconcile order data. A representative from EPG (LogiMAT, March 2026) said: “An AI agent can determine how many people are needed on a given day based on the orders. The manager no longer has to allocate people manually. If a system is not running properly, the AI agent can schedule a maintenance session autonomously without asking the manager.” Johann Zrenner, Managing Director at IGZ (April 2026), explained: “Level 2 means that the AI looks over the employee’s shoulder. It recognizes patterns, like when the employee reacts the same in the same situation. The system can then ask: ‘Should I take over this function in the future whenever this situation occurs?'”
Trend 2 — A vendor-agnostic orchestration layer between WMS and automation: Operators want to add robots and equipment without rebuilding WMS integrations. Vendor-agnostic platforms are emerging as an intermediary layer that standardizes data and command exchange. Examples include SVT Robotics’ SOFTBOT Platform, positioned as a vendor-agnostic integration layer and used by a DHL customer to integrate new robots across seven countries in hours without SVT engineers, and Germany-based SYNAOS’ fleet management platform that connects mobile automation from vendors such as KUKA, SAFELOG, STILL and AUMOVIO. A.K. Schultz, CEO of SVT Robotics (April 2026), said: “We didn’t start the company to be an integration company. Integration is a feature, but the real value is in optimization, in the analytics and understanding of what your business is doing. If you don’t integrate in a proper way, then you can never extract that value.”
Trend 3 — AMMRs combine transport and handling: Autonomous mobile manipulator robots (AMMRs) pair a mobile base with robotic arms so goods can be picked, transferred or supplied without manual handover. Examples shown at LogiMAT 2026 include Bosch Rexroth’s mobile manipulator built on the ctrlX AUTOMATION platform with two cooperative robot arms, ek robotics combining its X MOVE 1200 AMR with the MAiRA M cobot from NEURA Robotics for vision-guided handling of small load carriers, and Locus Robotics’ April 2026 launch of Locus Array, a large-scale robot that handles inbound storage, picking and outbound handling without a human placing items on the robot. A representative from Locus Robotics (MODEX, April 2026) said: “We’re seeing the trend of warehouse operators needing to reduce the dependency on labor. That is where this comes in. It is fully automated in terms of the flow of product inbound. Storage, picking, handling outbound is taking people out of that process completely.”
Analyst perspective
IoT Analytics analyst Justina-Alexandra Sava, after more than 30 interviews with vendors, integrators and operators and attendance at LogiMAT 2026 and MODEX 2026, concluded that labor shortages—not technology—set the pace for intralogistics demand; software holds much of the value and its growth will determine how well robots, people and equipment work together; openness and vendor-agnostic standards (such as VDA 5050) are becoming key buying criteria; and competition will intensify as Chinese OEMs improve hardware, add local service and pressure Western vendors to compete on software and services.
