Lighting control market seen tripling by 2035

The global lighting control system market is projected to grow from $53.32 billion in 2025 to $167.47 billion by 2035, driven by tighter energy codes, retrofit mandates and smart-city spending. Asia-Pacific leads today, while the Middle East and Africa is expected to be the fastest-growing region through the decade.

Why it matters: - Lighting control is shifting from a discretionary upgrade to a compliance-driven building standard. - The market's projected 13.0% CAGR reflects demand from energy codes, retrofits and connected-building programs. - The change affects commercial buildings, streetlighting networks and broader building-management systems.

What happened: - The global lighting control system market was valued at $53.32 billion in 2025. - The market is projected to reach $55.75 billion in 2026 and $167.47 billion by 2035. - Market Research Future released the report on August 7, 2026. - The report covers components, technology, installation type, application and regional demand. - The report sample is available here. - The full report is available here.

The details: - Hardware held 55.5% of revenue in 2025 and remained the largest segment. - Services are the fastest-growing offering segment, with a 14.2% CAGR. - Software is forecast to grow at 13.4% CAGR. - Wired protocols, including DALI and KNX, held 64.8% of the market in 2025. - Wireless alternatives are expanding at a 13.7% CAGR. - Retrofit installations are projected to grow at a 14.0% CAGR through 2035. - New construction held 39.5% of the market in 2025. - Indoor applications accounted for 68.0% of sales in 2025. - Outdoor applications are projected to grow at a 14.1% CAGR. - Asia-Pacific led the market with a 38.4% revenue share in 2025. - North America held 27.5% of global share. - Europe held 22.1% of global share. - The Middle East and Africa is forecast to grow at a 13.9% CAGR through 2035. - The market's growth is linked to tighter building energy codes, smart-city programs, retrofit mandates and lower LED driver and sensor costs. - LED driver costs fell about 18% between 2022 and 2024. - The report says smart-city and connected-building programs add about 2.4 percentage points to the market's CAGR. - Building energy-efficiency codes add about 2.1 percentage points. - Retrofit mandate expansion adds about 1.9 percentage points. - LED driver and sensor cost deflation adds about 1.8 percentage points. - China's New Infrastructure initiative allocated CNY 140 billion to urban IoT networks between 2023 and 2025. - India's SLNP program has converted more than 20 million streetlights to LED. - The 2024 International Energy Conservation Code requires automatic shut-off, daylight-responsive dimming and demand-response capability in commercial spaces above 5,000 square feet. - California's Title 24-2025 requires continuous dimming and occupancy sensing in newly permitted non-residential projects. - The EU Energy Efficiency Directive recast requires member states to renovate 3% of public building floor area annually starting in 2025. - The European Commission estimates daylight and occupancy controls can cut energy use 35% to 50% in pre-2000 office buildings. - AI-driven autonomous lighting is expected to expand by 2030, with machine-learning algorithms handling luminaire-level dimming at the edge. - Lighting platforms are moving toward building-intelligence operating systems that connect lighting with HVAC, access control and air-quality monitoring. - The report says subscription-based software pricing is expected to overtake one-time licensing by 2032.

Between the lines: - The market is becoming more software-heavy as multi-vendor deployments increase integration complexity. - Protocol fragmentation remains a major adoption barrier. - A 2024 ASHRAE survey found 41% of facility managers cited multi-vendor integration as the main obstacle to upgrading controls. - Cybersecurity risks and a shortage of trained commissioning professionals also slow adoption. - Competition is shifting toward vendors that can translate across DALI-2, BACnet and wireless mesh systems. - The report describes the market as low concentration, with a top-five share of 32% to 38% and an HHI below 600. - Signify, Lutron Electronics, Acuity Brands, Legrand, Eaton, Schneider Electric, Hubbell, Honeywell, Crestron and Zumtobel are identified as key players.

What's next: - Smart-city spending and retrofit mandates are likely to remain the main demand engines through 2035. - The next generation of controls is expected to use predictive occupancy data and edge computing to cut lighting energy use another 15% to 25% beyond static scheduling. - Lighting controls are likely to be bundled more often into as-a-service contracts. - The report projects Lighting-as-a-Service contracts will grow about 18% annually through 2030. - Vendors that control the middleware layer may capture more value as building systems converge onto a single data backbone. - Regional growth is likely to stay strongest in the Middle East and Africa, while Asia-Pacific remains the largest market.