Intelligent World 2030: 4 Industry Trends that Will Shape the Future

Networks 2030

Going intelligent has become the general direction that the world is heading in over the coming decade. 

Future networks won't just connect billions of people; they will connect hundreds of billions of things. We envision those connections as being supported by green and cubic broadband networks that are AI-native, secure, trustworthy, and capable of providing deterministic experiences and HCS.

The communications networks of 2030 will have six defining features enabled by 15 key technologies, and each key technology will rely on research on multiple technological fronts:

1. AI Native: Autonomous Driving Network and AI-native edge
2. HCS: Wireless sensing, Wi-Fi sensing, Optical sensing
3. Cubic Broadband Network: Space-air-ground integrated network; 10-gigabit connectivity for individuals, homes, and organizations; All-terabit network for access, backbone, and DCN
4. Green and Low-carbon: Simplified architecture and Optoelectronic integration
5. Deterministic Experience: Differentiated latency assurance, 99.999% availability, and E2E slicing
6. Security and Trustworthiness: Network security and digital trustworthiness

The coming decade will see continuous improvements in network performance. Today's gigabit access enabled by 5G, F5G, and Wi-Fi 6 for homes, individuals, and organizations will evolve toward 10 gigabit capacity enabled by 6G, F6G, and Wi-Fi 8. Huawei predicts that average monthly data use on wireless cellular networks per person will increase 40-fold to 600 GB in 2030. In addition, gigabit or higher fiber broadband household penetration and 10 gigabit fiber broadband household penetration are expected to reach 55% and 23%, respectively, and the average monthly fixed network data usage per household is forecast to increase eightfold to 1.3 TB. Network ports will be upgraded from 400G to 800G or even 1.6T, and single-fiber capacity will exceed 100T. In terms of coverage, network construction up until now has focused on connectivity on the ground, but in the future, we will see the construction of integrated networks connecting the ground, air, and space.

For more on how communications networks will evolve over the next decade, download the Communications Network 2030 Industry Report where we analyze the technologies that will power a connected future and enable applications like:

• Human-Machine Interaction Network and how that will deliver hyperreal experiences with extended reality
• Naked-eye 3D displays
• Digital touch and digital smell 
• Seamless gigabit experience on Wi-Fi, and mobile and fixed networks
• Satellite broadband Internet
• The Industrial Internet and human-robot collaboration in intelligent manufacturing
• A computer power network oriented to machine cognition
• Cognitive networks, with huge advances in intelligence
• Cubic broadband powered by 6G, F6G, and Wi-Fi 8

Computing 2030

After half a century of development, computing has become deeply integrated into every aspect of our work and lives. In the next decade, computing will become the cornerstone of the intelligent world and continue to support economic development and scientific advances.

In 2030, the digital and physical worlds will be seamlessly converged. People and machines will interact with each other perceptually and emotionally. Computing will be able to simulate, enhance, and recreate the physical world. Hyper-real experiences will drive computing to the edge, and necessitate multi-dimensional collaborative computing between cloud and edge, between edge and edge, and between the digital and physical worlds. AI will evolve from perceptual intelligence to cognitive intelligence and develop the capacity for creativity. It will become more inclusive and make everything intelligent. As the boundaries of scientific exploration continue to expand, the demand for computing power will increase rapidly. Supercomputers that can perform 100 EFLOPS and a new, intelligent paradigm for scientific research will emerge. In the push toward global carbon neutrality, computing of the future will be greener, and service experience will get better. 

The semiconductor technologies that computing relies on are approaching their physical limits, and this will spark a golden decade of innovation in computing. Innovation in software, algorithms, architecture, and materials will make computing greener, more secure, and more intelligent. It is estimated that by 2030, global data will be growing by one yottabyte every year. Total general computing power will see a tenfold increase and reach 3.3 ZFLOPS, and AI computing power will increase by a factor of 500, to more than 100 ZFLOPS. 

Increases in computing power will give rise industry applications like AI-enabled precision medicine and research into new drugs, AI-enabled education, intelligent agriculture, research into the universe, AR/VR-powered extended reality – i.e., an immersive virtual world – and much more. 

Download the Computing 2030 Industry Report to find out more about these applications and for our deep dive into computing technologies such as:

• Cognitive Intelligence – how smart will AI get?
• Intrinsic Security – can we expect unparalleled digital trust and privacy?
• Green Computing – how will the ICT industry be at the forefront of net zero?
• Diversified Computing – how will computing power be ‘everywhere’?
• Multi-dimensional Collaboration – new tech like cubic computing, light field holographic rendering, 3D rendering, and quantum computing explained. What do they mean for the future?
• Physical breakthroughs like carbon nanotubes

Digital Power 2030

Sustainable, renewable energy will play a vital role in driving sustainable development of the world economy, as population growth and national industrialization drive energy demand to unprecedented levels. 

Since commercial oil drilling began in the 1850s, experts estimate that we have harvested more than 135 billion tons of crude oil, with that figure increasing every day. Currently, global annual consumption of primary energy amounts to about 14 billion tons of oil equivalent, of which more than 85% is fossil fuels. This means that fossil fuels will soon run out. According to BP, we will run out of global oil, gas, and coal resources in 50, 53, and 134 years, respectively, if our current extradition and consumption patterns do not change. 

This makes the development of renewable energy sources imperative to ensure sustainable development. 

According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, "Renewable energy is crucial for building a sustainable, prosperous and peaceful future" at the High-level Dialogue on Energy in March 2021. He also noted, "The year 2021 must be a historic tipping point towards sustainable energy for all."

The global renewable energy industry has emerged as a promising new market in recent decades. Many countries have made wind and solar power generation part of their new energy strategies, and invested significantly into supporting R&D and industrial development in these areas. Driven by technological innovation, wind and solar power generation is also growing increasingly affordable. Oxford University's Max Roser found that the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) of large-scale terrestrial PV plants was US$0.36 per kWh of electricity in 2009 and that within just one decade that price had declined by 89% to US$0.04 per kWh of electricity

For more on how technology will be at the vanguard of a cleaner world, download the Digital Power 2030 Industry Report where we explore in detail how digital power will shape the future, including:

• Cost-effective wind and solar power will drive an energy revolution
• Power electronics technologies 
• The intelligent transformation of energy systems
• Grid-friendly, intelligent, and converged PV plants
• Smart power will ramp up the electric vehicle industry
• Green ICT infrastructure

Intelligent Automotive Solutions 2030

The beginning of the 2020s has marked a rapid shift towards more intelligent electric vehicles within the automotive industry. A new era for the automotive industry is just on the horizon, and we will soon see these profound changes affect our daily lives. There is an industry-wide consensus that vehicles will be more electric and intelligent Carmakers are embracing this trend by actively adjusting their business strategies and ramping up R&D investment. Many have made transformation a core part of their future development strategy and have already begun to take concrete steps in this area. Technology and user experience are driving rapid growth in the new energy vehicle (NEV) market.

In 2020, NEV companies were able to buck the trend and grow, helping them establish a mid- to long-term competitive edge over other players in the automotive market. This can be attributed to two key drivers – technology and user experience – that NEV companies have been able to leverage ICT to create an intelligent automotive industry and help carmakers build better vehicles through heavy investment into R&D and closer analyses of user requirements. 

The automotive industry is changing rapidly, and so are its products and industry landscape. As ICT is integrated into the automotive industry at an increasing speed, cross-industry collaboration becomes increasingly important. Huawei is committed to researching digital technologies and bringing its ICT expertise to the automotive industry through partnerships with carmakers. 

For more on how technology how the tech-powered roadscape will change for the better over the next decade, explore Intelligent Automotive Solution 2030 in our Automotive Solution 2030 Industry Report in which we cover the technologies behind:

• How driving will be safer, smoother, and intelligent
• The steps that the introduction of autonomous vehicles will follow, starting with commercial vehicles 
• The introduction AI-powered “intelligent cockpits”
• How vehicles will become intelligent and electric
• The role data and software will play in creating software-defined vehicles
• How the industry will change for car manufacturers
• The changes that will take place in vehicle product attributes
• How cross-sector collaboration will benefit the industry
• The evolution of vehicles from a mobile space to an intelligent living space that integrates the virtual and physical worlds
• The central communications architecture for intelligent vehicles

Click here to read about the 8 Outlooks for Intelligent World 2030, which looks at how technology will change key aspects of work and life.