Amid trade barriers, regional conflicts and other uncertainties, security companies still expressed optimism for continued growth, which they said will be driven by advanced technologies, especially breakthroughs in AI.
Looking back at 2024, we observed the global economy achieved a subdued growth of 2.8 percent, according to the
World Bank. This is more or less reflected in this year’s Security 50, where companies’ 2024 growth averaged 3.28 percent. As for this year and next, amid trade barriers, regional conflicts and other uncertainties, security companies still expressed optimism for continued growth, which they said will be driven by advanced technologies, especially breakthroughs in AI.
Top 10 companies
Welcome to asmag.com’s
2025 Security 50, featuring the Top 50 public-traded companies in physical security based on their 2024 revenue from security product sales. The Top 10 companies this year are: Hikvision Digital Technology, Dahua Technology, ASSA ABLOY, Motorola Solutions, Axis Communications, Allegion, Tiandy, Hanwha Vision, Raythink and TKH. Hikvision and Dahua remain the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 security companies, with 2024 revenues of US$12.87 billion and $4.48 billion, respectively.
We also see some new entrants on this year’s list. They are Raythink, Alarm.com, Arlo and Innodep. In particular, Raythink, based in China, specializes in the development, manufacturing and marketing of intelligent photoelectric sensing technology. Innodep, based in Korea, is a specialized company focused on AI-based data city platforms.
Top growth companies
Meanwhile, a majority of companies – 33 – registered growth in 2024 year-on-year. The Top 10 growth companies are: ITX, Sparsh CCTV, Dongguan Yutong Optical Technology, Tamron, Everfocus Electronics, Raythink, Milestone Systems, Dynacolor, Intelbras and Hanwha Vision. It’s worth noting that the world’s biggest two, Hikvision and Dahua, saw slowed growth momentum due to adverse conditions in markets, domestic and abroad.
Chinese market decline seen
Indeed, Chinese companies performed inadequately last year and more or less dragged down the global market as a whole. A report by Novaira, for example,
finds that the global video surveillance market experienced a decline of 0.3 percent in 2024, due largely to a China market decline of 7.8 percent, which offset a growth of 4.9 percent for the rest of the world. Omdia also revealed in an interview with asmag.com that the Chinese market experienced its third consecutive year of contraction declining by 9.6 percent in 2024, while markets outside China expanded a healthy 7.5 percent to $16.8 billion.
"The persistent downturn stems from a combination of factors: a prolonged real estate sector correction, restricted public sector spending, and diminished business confidence, all of which have curtailed project investments across government, enterprise and small-to-medium sized business sectors, deepening the market’s multi-year contraction,” said Tommy Zhu, Principal Analyst for Physical Security at Omdia.
As for 2025 and 2026, Omdia gave a more positive assessment, forecasting a smaller decline this year and a return to growth next year. “The growth drivers include increased issuance of government bonds focused on digitization, infrastructure, and high-tech manufacturing. Recently announced mega projects, such as the hydropower project in the Yarlung Zangbo River and Xinjiang-Tibet railway will also boost growth in the critical infrastructure sector,” Zhu said.
A review of 2025
Needless to say, 2025 was an eventful year. The war between Russia and Ukraine dragged on. The conflict in the Middle East had continued until Israel and the Hamas reached a truce, whose effectiveness remains to be seen. But the real transformative force that changed the global economic dynamics was the trade war launched by the U.S. against different nations. The trade war between the U.S. and China has been particularly intense, with the U.S. slapping triple-digit tariffs on China and banning sales of advanced US technologies, including advanced chips, to China. China has responded in kind by controlling rare earths exports to the U.S. and halting purchases of US soybeans. After a recent meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donal Trump in Korea, the two superpowers temporarily reached a truce that is expected to last a year.
But as far as security is concerned, U.S.’s punitive measures against China produced minimal impact on Chinese security players – at least for the larger ones.
"Companies like Hikvision and Dahua began restructuring their global supply chains as early as 2018, when U.S.-China trade tensions escalated. By establishing production bases in India, Vietnam, and Brazil, the two companies mitigated tariff impacts,” Zhu said. “Additionally, due to ongoing US sanctions, Hikvision has gradually exited the US market, and Dahua has sold its North American operations. As a result, the latest tariffs have minimal impact on these industry leaders. Other smaller players that rely on the US market but do not have local manufacturing plants, may face increasing challenges from the US trade barriers.”
He added: “The US export control on chips have limited effects on Chinese security industry at present. Sanctions on Chinese security vendors started before the pandemic and has been intensified in recent years. Over the past few years, these large vendors have shifted to China-made alternatives to ensure supply chain safety.”
Hikvision, meanwhile, offers a similar assessment and says prospects look good this year. “From Hikvision’s perspective, 2025 has shown stable growth across international markets. While certain regions face geopolitical and trade-related challenges, we’ve seen strong demand in emerging markets such as MEA, Latin America, and Pan-APAC,” said Allen Tang, VP of Hikvision International Business Center.
Other companies we spoke with also gave positive outlooks for 2025, despite the global challenges and uncertainties.
“Despite economic uncertainty in the broader market, demand for security has continued to grow, and our partners are seeing that growth firsthand. Historically, security has proven to be one of the most resilient industries through different economic cycles, and advances in technology has only strengthened that position,” said Dan Kerzner, President of Platforms Business at Alarm.com.
“Geopolitical trade barriers present headwinds for industry, particularly around cross-border technology transfer and supply chain resilience. At HID, we navigated these by remaining laser focused on meeting customer needs, investing in localized manufacturing where feasible, and diversifying sourcing partnerships. This has allowed us to remain resilient and continue delivering trusted identity solutions to customers worldwide,” said Ramesh Songukrishnasamy, SVP and CTO of HID.
As for what’s driving growth for this year, security players cite increased demand and adoption of advanced technologies such as AI, which they said has transformed security from a cost center to a value center.
“AI integration continues to redefine the physical security industry, driving a shift from reactive protection towards more intelligent, adaptive systems. The most notable innovations are those enhancing situational awareness and enabling data-led decision making in real-time, helping security and building management systems to work together more seamlessly,” said Howard Lang, President, Gunnebo Entrance Control.
In particular, the so-called “large-scale AI models,” which are trained on large datasets and are seen to drastically improve detection accuracy and reduce false alarms, have gained widespread attention in security.
“Large-scale AI is one of the most transformative innovations reshaping physical security today. From intelligent camera analytics to instant video search capabilities, the application of large-scale AI models delivers significant improvements in security protection, business intelligence, traffic management, and more In line with this trend, Hikvision has launched our Guanlan large-scale models, leveraging these capabilities to deliver advanced intelligence across our new products and solutions. This strategic focus on large-scale AI integration positions us at the forefront of the evolving security landscape,” Tang said.
Challenges remain
Despite the upbeat sentiment, various challenges still remain in security. One of them is cybersecurity, especially at a time when security devices are more connected than ever and video can be faked or manipulated by AI.
“One of the major challenges in 2025 has been the rise of sophisticated AI-driven attacks that blur the lines between physical and digital breaches. HID’s State of Security and Identity 2025 report revealed that 62 percent of enterprises faced identity-related breaches in the past year, underscoring the scale of the challenge. At the same time, organizations are under pressure to modernize legacy infrastructure while ensuring compliance with evolving global and regional regulations. Organizations increasingly understand that effective security cannot compromise convenience, and this is where HID continues to deliver differentiated value in areas of robust technologies and enhanced user experiences,” Songukrishnasamy said.
Another key challenge has to do with labor shortage and other related issues. “Staffing shortages, high turnover, and the cost and complexity of training have become some of the biggest barriers for organizations across the industry. Channel partners are especially feeling the strain as they struggle to find and retain skilled technicians, often dealing with errors and inefficiencies that flow directly from inexperience. These challenges aren’t just HR problems; they’re shaping how quickly businesses can innovate and how effectively they can operate,” said Danille Mitchell, Training Manager for APAC and IMEA at Gallagher Security.
“For us, addressing these people issues has meant leaning heavily into education, training, and partnership. We’ve focused on providing resources that help fill capability gaps, making expertise accessible, and building long-term trust with customers and partners. By tackling the human side of the industry head-on, we’ve found we can remove some of the friction that slows adoption and help ensure that technology delivers the value it promises,” she added.
Upbeat for 2026
As for next year, security players also expressed upbeat sentiment, saying the momentum gained around advanced technologies such as AI and mobile access control will continue.
“We are optimistic about 2026, with expectations for continued growth across our core markets. The momentum will be driven by accelerated digital ID, mobile access and biometrics adoption, as more governments roll out national identity modernization initiatives. In the enterprise space, demand for converged access solutions, where a single digital credential secures both cyber and physical access, is expected to expand rapidly,” Songukrishnasamy said. “Our 2025 research highlights that over 70 percent of organizations plan to increase investment in mobile identity and credential issuance in the next two years. This trend will extend into 2026, along with heightened demand for zero-trust architectures that integrate identity deeply into security frameworks.”
“Looking ahead to 2026, I’m optimistic,” said Andrew Elvish, VP of Marketing at Genetec. “Investments remain strong, and security professionals are approaching technology with real curiosity and creativity. As AI tools continue to accelerate investigations, and intelligent automation helps security operators gain a unified understanding of activity across systems, we expect growth to continue.”
“For 2026, we expect continued momentum, especially as AI becomes more context-aware and further integrated across mission-critical verticals such as venues and smart cities. The drive towards more automated workflows will broaden AI’s role, extending it from traditional security applications into areas like operations and business intelligence, where the camera acts as a sensor generating data,” said Gerard Figols, Chief Operating Officer at i-PRO.