Last year, the global economy grew a mere 2.7 percent, the World Bank
estimated, citing steep tariff increases and historically high policy uncertainty. Security companies outperformed the WB figure by a few percentage points, averaging 3.2 percent. This year, despite lingering uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, security companies are upbeat about the industry, due to various growth stimulants. Technology-wise, most attention is still focused on AI, which has become the single most transformative force in security. No longer just an objection detection/classification tool, AI has evolved into “agents” that can interpret scenes, respond to events and retrieve relevant footage upon a user query. Subsequently, companies and solutions providers are developing new strategies and product roadmaps to respond to this gigantic trend.
The Top 10 companies on this year’s Security 50, based on publicly listed security firms’ 2025 revenue, are Hikvision, ASSA ABLOY, Dahua, Motorola Solutions, Axis Communications, Allegion, Tiandy, Hanwha Vision, Raytron and TKH. A key change on this year’s list is the rise of ASSA ABLOY to the No. 2 spot, while Dahua drops to No. 3. This is due to stronger growth registered by the former, as well as changes in exchange rates. Three companies are making their debut, namely JFTECH, Climax and Truen, while Evetar, Kedacom, JOVISION and Foctek are making a comeback.
In terms of growth, a total of 31 companies inked revenue growth in 2025. The Top 10 revenue gainers are Sparsh CCTV, Raytron, CP PLUS, Evetar, JFTECH, Suprema, Dongguan Yutong Optical Technology, Synectics, Climax and Allegion.
It’s also worth noting that several Chinese companies reported flat or decreased revenue for 2025, due mostly to slower demand. “Persistent macroeconomic headwinds and domestic anti-innovation policies aimed at curbing excessive competition suppressed demand from traditional enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses. Local government fiscal constraints persisted despite earlier stimulus measures, resulting in slower capital expenditure cycles,” said Tommy Zhu, Principal Analyst for Physical Security at Omdia.
Review of 2026
For 2026, the sentiment in the security industry remains mostly optimistic, due to increased public and private investment, adoption of advanced technologies and demand from various vertical markets.
“The industry faces several headwinds in 2026 – ongoing supply shortages of memory and storage components, persistent geopolitical friction, lingering regional conflicts, and expanding regional and country-level compliance requirements. However, these challenges are offset by strong tailwinds: accelerated replacement cycles driven by aging infrastructure, AI-driven system upgrades, and robust government infrastructure investment pipelines. As a result, Omdia forecasts that the video surveillance market will expand at a robust 12.8 percent in 2026,” Zhu said.
“We remain positive about the industry and expect continued growth in 2026. The main drivers are demand for professionally monitored security, replacement of legacy communication systems, smart-home adoption, and growing demand for integrated security and telecare solutions,” said Monica Lin, Marketing Manager at Climax. “North America and Latin America showed stronger growth potential, while Europe remained our largest and most stable market.”
“The physical security industry continued to evolve steadily in 2026, driven by AI adoption, cloud-based services, and growing demand for more secure and compliant surveillance systems,” said Max Kim, Sales Manager for EMEA and Asia at IDIS. “Customers continue to invest in technologies that improve operational efficiency, including intelligent video analytics and faster forensic search. We believe technology innovation and regulatory compliance will become even more closely connected across the physical security market.”
Growth is seen across vertical markets. Yet one sector that is more booming than the others is the sector for data centers, which are mushrooming across the globe to meet growing compute and data storage needs.
“The explosive growth of the data centers segment overall is lending to a parallel growth in new security system purchases by these facilities. Not only do these facilities offer total greenfield opportunities for security providers, but data center customers will be looking for quick implementation timelines and seamless integration for any of these new systems,” said Danielle VanZandt, Associate Research Director and Program Manager at Frost & Sullivan.
“During the first half of 2026, we saw particularly strong growth in utilities, with data centers and telecommunications among the key areas of activity. Demand from data centers reflects both the rapid expansion of data center infrastructure and the critical nature of the services these facilities provide,” said Fabien Haubert, CEO of Senstar Technologies.
‘Efficiency must be balanced with resilience’
As mentioned, the industry still faces various challenges that need to be addressed. These include geopolitical uncertainties, supply shortages and the ongoing tariff war. That said, staying resilient and agile has become more important than ever for security players.
“External factors such as geopolitical tensions, logistics disruptions, component availability and tariff uncertainty continued to affect the broader technology and security markets. The industry has become more resilient than in previous years, but customers are still paying close attention to delivery reliability, sourcing transparency and long-term product availability. This confirmed the importance of a robust operating model,” said Aleksandar Smiljanic, CSMO of MOBOTIX.
“We strengthened supply resilience through a combination of measures. First, we increased supply-chain visibility for critical components and worked more closely with suppliers on rolling forecasts, capacity planning and risk alerts. Second, we continued to diversify qualified sources where technically and commercially feasible, while maintaining strict controls over product quality and cybersecurity. Third, we used strategic inventory and alternative logistics routes for selected high-risk materials and customer commitments,” said Jeff Yang, GM of Product Department at ZKTeco. “These external factors have reinforced a lesson for the industry: efficiency must be balanced with resilience.”
Preview of 2027
As for next year, most security players remain upbeat as the positive factors driving the industry remain in place.
“Given the resiliency that the physical security industry has shown in 2026, I would expect that 2027 will see a similar trajectory. The industry has embraced the digitalization push, particularly with the AI era offering tangible improvements in efficiency, connectivity, and threat detection capabilities. Technological advancements will also continue to propel the industry forward, particularly as AI capabilities realize more tangible use cases across the physical security ecosystem,” VanZandt said.
“Looking ahead to 2027, we expect continued growth as organizations accelerate the modernization of access control. Our long-term goal is centered on delivering 'invisible protection,' creating secure environments where technology works so reliably in the background that people can move through their day without feeling like an operational problem. To maintain our growth, our course of action is clear: we will continue expanding our integrated platform across the world, strengthen our presence in high-security critical infrastructure, and broaden our open partner ecosystem,” said Hanchul Kim, CEO of Suprema.
AI as a game-changer
As far as 2026’s technology trends are concerned, AI certainly ranks on top. Of course, you can say AI is the top-ranking technology every year. But this year, more than ever, we’re seeing AI starting to fundamentally change the way humans interact with their security system. Thanks to the latest developments in the field, for example generative AI and vision-language models, AI today stands not just as a tool to read license plates or identify unattended bags, but as an agent, your personal assistant, or what have you – that can interpret scenes, predict outcomes, suggest course of action, and provide relevant footage all based on spoken or text queries.
“The single most transformative trend in 2026 has been generative AI's arrival in video technology. Vision-language models now let security teams have a conversation with a camera feed about what's happening. AI reasoning powers alarm validation, validating alerts before a human ever sees it. And, of course, natural-language search, which lets operators search thousands of hours of footage simply by asking for whatever they're looking for – no filters required,” said Mette Mai Maarup, EVP for Strategy, Communications and Brand at Milestone Systems. “Generative AI is opening a new business opportunities for us: Hafnia Training-as-a-Service gives developers a compliant, curated data library and workflow to build and fine-tune their own AI video models.”
At the same time, applications of AI in physical security have become more diverse than ever.
“While robots and autonomous vehicles are an enormous and exciting opportunity for physical AI, a much broader opportunity exists where physical security is already integrated into the built environment we interact with every day,” said Babak Behzad, Director of Engineering, AI, Search and Analytics at Verkada. “At a warehouse, that means that the perimeter and entry points are secure – but that the team can also be alerted to safety risks like missing PPE as they happen and address them in the moment rather than investigating an incident afterward. At a quick service restaurant, that means that they can deter loitering after-hours and also generate a report on queue wait times at the end of the day to understand how well it served customers.”
Meanwhile, AI has moved to the edge, making edge devices more intelligent and powerful than ever. This has also prompted solutions providers to change product roadmaps and developmental strategies to respond.
For Aditya Khemka, MD of CP PLUS, edge AI is the industry's defining shift. "Cameras now interpret video in real time, moving from basic monitoring to object detection, behavioral analysis, traffic intelligence and automated response. The camera is becoming a computing device as much as an imaging device, and that is shaping our roadmap. Our collaboration with Qualcomm is focused on bringing AI-powered video intelligence to the edge, so ever more sophisticated workloads can be processed right at the point of capture," Khema said.
“Edge intelligence became increasingly important. Processing data directly at the sensor can reduce bandwidth, improve response times and support privacy-by-design concepts. In security-sensitive environments, including critical infrastructure and defense-related applications, this is a major advantage because relevant data can be processed close to the source and integrated into existing command, control or security systems. These trends shape our strategy: we continue to invest in intelligent sensors, edge-based analytics, cybersecurity, open platform integration and vertical solutions for markets with demanding operational requirements,” Smiljanic said.
Other prevailing trends
Another key trend cited for 2026 is increased adoption of LiDAR, or light detection and ranging, in security.
“For many years, LiDAR was primarily adopted by early adopters and was still perceived by parts of the market as an emerging technology. We are now seeing that change as the technology becomes more widely adopted. Combined Senstar and Blickfeld LiDAR sales approximately doubled year-over-year during the first half of 2026, with demand coming from markets around the world,” Haubert said. “The technology offers several advantages, including precise 3D detection and visualization, low nuisance-alarm rates, and ease of installation and configuration. Its ability to detect and track objects without relying on personally identifiable imagery can also be an advantage in applications where privacy is an important consideration.”
Meanwhile, a move towards integration, where different systems are unified on a single platform, is also picking up steam.
“We have seen stronger interest in integrated solutions, bringing together locking technology, authentication, software and connectivity. This shift is changing expectations around what security products can deliver and how they fit into wider operational environments. These trends have influenced both our commercial and product development priorities. We have strengthened our SecureTech focus by adding a technology layer to the certified physical security foundations of our business, while continuing to invest in connected locking solutions and software platforms such as Gunnebo iQ,” said Stefan Syrén, President and CEO of Gunnebo.
Finally, there’s cybersecurity, which appears perennially on any tech trend list. Indeed, amid increased connectivity, securing the networked security device has become not only a priority, but also a compliance requirement in many countries.
“Governments are introducing stricter cybersecurity, procurement, and product compliance requirements, particularly for video surveillance used in public-sector and critical infrastructure projects. India is a strong example of this trend. Under the BIS framework, CCTV products are subject to strengthened security-related Essential Requirements, supported by STQC testing. IDIS has actively responded to these requirements and recently obtained STQC certification for selected products,” Kim said.
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