Poll: Is AI leaving your other tech investments in the dust?
We're asking a simple question in our latest poll: Is AI taking all the oxygen out of the room at your manufacturing company when it comes to money and workforce investment?
Based on 2024 and 2025 reports from a variety of sources, adoption in U.S. manufacturing is widespread and accelerating, moving from experimental pilot projects to full-scale, strategic implementation.
See also: The hardware problem that is stalling half of all digital transformation projects
While the rate of adoption varies by industry and company size, AI has become a competitive necessity for improving efficiency, quality, and decision-making.
Recent reports indicate that a majority of manufacturers are actively investing in and applying AI to some extent. By mid-2025, over 52% of U.S. manufacturers were reported to have adopted AI at some level.
See also: The $2 trillion AI revolution: How smart factories are rewriting the rules
The AI in manufacturing market is growing rapidly. From 2024 to 2034, the global market is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of over 44%. This follows a significant increase in priority for AI among North American manufacturers since 2022.
So, please take our poll. We'll report on the results down the road.
About the Author
Scott Achelpohl
Head of Content
I've come to Smart Industry after stints in business-to-business journalism covering U.S. trucking and transportation for FleetOwner, a sister website and magazine of SI’s at Endeavor Business Media, and branches of the U.S. military for Navy League of the United States. I'm a graduate of the University of Kansas and the William Allen White School of Journalism with many years of media experience inside and outside B2B journalism. I'm a wordsmith by nature, and I edit Smart Industry and report and write all kinds of news and interactive media on the digital transformation of manufacturing.