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Webinar: The Additive Manufacturing Market - Future Trajectory 2025

Wednesday 11 December 2024 - The Future Trajectory of the Additive Manufacturing Market in 2025; Recent news, including entries and exits into the market; Financial summary for the 3D printing industry in 2024; Technology trends; Future outlook for 2025

3D Printing: A Dynamic Industry Approaching a Crossroads

The 3D printing industry is by no means new, given the invention of the first 3D printing technologies in the 1980s; yet, in an industry with a long history of twists and turns, 2024 is looking to be the most consequential yet for additive manufacturing. This can be traced back to the shockwaves set off by COVID-19. While the pandemic initially lowered sales for many 3D printer manufacturers, it also created opportunities for additive manufacturing to showcase its unique strengths, as numerous companies looked to reshoring and strengthening their supply chain to avoid persistent disruptions amidst global shipping shortages.

Is This A Turning Point For Consolidation In Additive Manufacturing?

In the past decade or so, the additive manufacturing industry has been characterized by an ever-increasing number of hardware players trying to capture their own share of the market. While there were signs of consolidation in the early 2010s, given major moves by industry leaders like Stratasys and 3D Systems, AM has instead seen a consistent stream of newcomers with their own innovative takes on AM, such that IDTechEx now segments their 3D printing hardware forecast by seventeen different categories to account for such diversity.

Markforged

In July 2022, Markforged acquired Digital Metal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Swedish multinational Höganäs AB developing metal binder jetting printers.

Prima Additive

Prima Additive are a group company of Italian machinery company Prima Industrie which produce metal powder bed fusion and direct energy deposition printers. IDTechEx spoke with Applications Engineer Lorenzo Abrusci.

Segmenting the Polymer 3D Printing Materials Market

"Diverse and Developing" - the only way to describe the current breadth of the polymer materials portfolio for additive manufacturing. From materials that vary in form factor (i.e., powders, resins, filaments) to material properties (i.e., flexible, reinforced, tough, etc.) to application (i.e., medical, industrial, dental, etc.), it can be difficult to define suitable enough categories that adequately cover this diverse market.

Axtra3D

Axtra3D is an Italy/US-based startup developing a new photopolymer resin printing technology called Hybrid Photosynthesis. IDTechEx spoke with CEO Gianni Zitelli.

PrinterPrezz

PrinterPrezz are a US-based end-to-end manufacturer of 3D printed medical devices. IDTechEx spoke with CEO Shri Shetty to discuss the company's mission.

Ultimaker

Ultimaker are a Dutch manufacturer of desktop FFF printers. This update covers two major changes for the company.

ExOne

ExOne are a fully-owned subsidiary of Desktop Metal manufacturing binder jetting printers. At RAPID + TCT 2022, ExOne launched a new sand binder jetting printer called the S-Max Flex.

Metal Additive Manufacturing Rebounds to Hit $18 Billion by 2032

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted a key target market for metal additive manufacturing - aviation. Additionally, global supply chain disruptions have led companies to re-evaluate their operations. Within this environment, how has metal additive manufacturing fared?

Why is the 3D Printing Market not Consolidating?

"We expect to see the additive manufacturing market consolidating in the near future" has been the refrain of many for nearly a decade now. The thought really strengthened after major acquisition moves by industry titans Stratasys and 3D Systems between 2010-2012. Stratasys would acquire wax 3D printer company Solidscape and merge with material jetting pioneer Objet in 2011-2012, while 3D Systems completed a jaw-dropping 13 acquisitions between 2011-2012. With so many major moves by market leaders in the early 2010s, it seemed like market consolidation was just around the corner.

3D Printing Hardware: On Its Way to an $9.9 Billion Peak

In the thirty years since the founding of the 3D printing industry, countless printing technologies have been invented, patented, and commercialized - from fused filament fabrication to digital light processing, selective laser melting to binder jetting, material jetting to sheet lamination, and every unique printing technology in between. With every new technology, the additive manufacturing market has grown its ability to expand into new applications, end-users, and industries. From this perspective, 3D printers can be considered the core foundation underlying the additive manufacturing industry's growth in recent years.