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With 105.2 million nodes, EtherCAT has significantly surpassed the 100-million mark and further solidified its market-leading position in the field of industrial real-time Ethernet systems. In 2025, 16.9 million new nodes were added—a clear sign that growth is accelerating again.

The data is based on quantities reported by chip manufacturers and follows a deliberately conservative methodology: multi-protocol chips are only counted proportionally, FPGA implementations account for just 10% of the total, and modular I/O modules are not included in the count. As a result, the figures realistically reflect the actual EtherCAT market and avoid overestimates.

“The fact that 16.9 million new nodes were added in a single year speaks for itself: inventory levels following the chip crisis have been reduced, and EtherCAT’s organic growth continues,” said Martin Rostan, Executive Director of the EtherCAT Technology Group. “Our method involves a certain time lag because not every chip delivered immediately ends up in a shipped device. However, chip manufacturers report realistic figures, as exaggerations would have financial consequences. We have taken a very conservative approach with multi-protocol chips: the proportion actually used for EtherCAT is likely to be higher in practice.”

Several factors contribute to the continued success of EtherCAT:

• Technical advantages: short cycle times, high determinism, and low latency due to efficient data throughput—made possible by EtherCAT’s characteristic “on-the-fly” functional principle.
• Easy to commission – flexible, scalable topology, automatic address assignment, no switches, no IT expertise required.
• Wide range of applications: manufacturing automation, robotics, packaging technology, semiconductor manufacturing, energy and building technology, medical technology, test and measurement systems, and transportation.
• Economic appeal: cost-effective implementation, robust interoperability, and the widest variety of devices on the market.

The EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG) foresees sustained, accelerating growth of EtherCAT —driven by the increasing importance of cybersecurity and new applications in robotics, manufacturing automation, and intralogistics.

With EtherCAT, the license fee is included directly in the chip. Through Beckhoff Automation—the inventor and licensor of EtherCAT—EtherCAT chip manufacturers use this to fund the ETG and, by extension, the technology ecosystem. Membership in the ETG remains free of charge for users and suppliers; funding is provided by the license fees included in the chips. This model supports neutrality, open collaboration, and rapid adoption of the technology.

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