Federal funding tied to open wireless standards is accelerating private 5G adoption at U.S. manufacturing sites, forcing mid-sized plant operators to confront unresolved interoperability barriers and a growing shortage of operational technology (OT)-qualified personnel capable of managing converged networks.
Background
The policy impetus behind the current wave of industrial 5G deployments traces to the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which directed $1.5 billion over ten years to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund-a program designed, according to NTIA, to "enhance competitiveness of 5G and successor open and interoperable, standards-based RAN." The fund explicitly targets Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) architectures, under which hardware and software components from different suppliers can be combined rather than sourced from a single integrated vendor.
In parallel, NTIA's Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS), in collaboration with the Department of Defense's Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E), has run successive annual 5G Challenges to accelerate open interfaces and multi-vendor interoperability, according to NTIA documentation. NIST's Communications Technology Lab has also launched a formal Open RAN interoperability research program aimed at developing standardized test methodologies for multi-vendor deployments.
These programs arrive as the market shifts. Private 5G spending in manufacturing is projected to surpass $1 billion globally in 2025 and reach $8.7 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual rate of 45.7%, according to ABI Research. Transforma Insights notes that until 2023-2024, most private 5G mobile networks in industrial settings remained proofs-of-concept, but that 2024 and 2025 marked a decisive shift toward commercial deployment. Manufacturing leads all sectors in active private 5G uptake, according to the research firm.
Details
For mid-sized U.S. plants, the appeal of open-standard private 5G lies primarily in avoiding single-vendor lock-in-a risk NTIA has flagged as a national economic and security concern. Traditional mobile network infrastructure relies on a small group of companies that dominate the market, with that concentration degrading supply chains and causing higher prices, according to NTIA. Open RAN addresses this by enabling network architects to source components from multiple suppliers.
However, verified interoperability between those components remains the primary technical barrier. NTIA's own 5G Challenge testing documentation found that differences in 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance specification interpretations-including optional feature implementations and differing release versions-required contestants to spend extensive time resolving configuration mismatches before multi-vendor systems could be validated. The report concluded that "slow progress of multi-vendor interoperability hinders the U.S. Government's desires to support new entrants into the 5G market." NIST notes that an Open RAN base station node involves hundreds of configurable parameters, each capable of generating cross-vendor incompatibilities.
The O-RAN Alliance's certification and badging program-conducted at approved Open Testing and Integration Centers (OTICs)-is the current industry mechanism for validating conformance. Yet continuous interoperability testing infrastructure remains insufficiently available and affordable, particularly for smaller companies, according to analysis published by 5G Technology World. This creates a structural disadvantage for the mid-market plants most targeted by federal funding programs.
On the factory floor, the network integration challenge is compounded by an IT-OT skills gap. Industry research published by IoT Business News confirms that private 5G can deliver predictable low latency in industrial environments only when the network is tightly integrated into the operational technology ecosystem-specifically with PLCs (programmable logic controllers) and SCADA systems. Deployments without OT alignment showed jitter or inconsistent robotic responses even on otherwise well-performing networks. Successful deployments, the same analysis found, required updated maintenance procedures for radio units and training for staff operating AGVs or connected tools.
This OT competency requirement now intersects with U.S. federal training initiatives. The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), through the Better Plants program, has rolled out a four-week virtual training curriculum covering IT/OT cybersecurity for manufacturers, grounded in NIST 800-82, IEC 62443, and zero-trust principles. Separately, NIST's updated 800-82 guidance and CISA's 2025 Cyber Performance Goals both extend compliance obligations into OT network environments-including newly connected wireless infrastructure.
SNS Telecom & IT projects that annual investment in private 5G networks for vertical industries will grow at approximately 41% CAGR between 2025 and 2028, surpassing $5 billion by end-2028, with early momentum concentrated in manufacturing and process industries.
Outlook
The convergence of NTIA's Open RAN funding, DoD interoperability testing requirements, and new OT security mandates is shaping a compliance-driven procurement framework that favors standards-adherent vendors. Plant operators pursuing federal program eligibility face increasing pressure to demonstrate multi-vendor network compatibility and documented OT workforce training-conditions that, according to NTIA's own challenge results, the current vendor ecosystem has not fully satisfied. As the O-RAN Alliance refines its certification badging program and NIST advances its interoperability test methodology, mid-sized manufacturers will need to align capital expenditure timelines with an evolving-and still unsettled-standards landscape.
