AM Research: 3D printing markets to reach sales of 14.7 billion US dollars in 2023

The market research company Additive Manufacturing Research (AM Research) has presented its annual analysis for the 3D printing industry in 2023. A total turnover of 14.7 billion US dollars was achieved, which corresponds to annual growth of 13.5%.

The metal segment outperformed polymers with an increase in revenue of just under 15 percent, compared to growth of around 10 percent. The AM service market reached USD 6.7 billion, growing at a similar rate to the industry as a whole.

According to AM Research, hardware sales in the fourth quarter fell short of expectations with an increase of less than 1% compared to 2022. For 2023 as a whole, however, hardware sales for metal and polymer systems are expected to increase by almost 6%.

With the Q4 report, AM Research is now also introducing a quarterly market analysis “3DP/AM Market Insights”. Here, the proprietary market data is supplemented with textual classifications and background information that go beyond the pure figures of the previous reports.

The data includes companies such as 3D Systems, Stratasys, Markforged, Desktop Metal, Velo3D, EOS, GE Additive, Trumpf and many more.

From the Report

• Momentum for AM markets in the military/government sector has further increased in Q4 to the point that it is becoming likely that government spending on AM will be the single largest market factor at play over the next two years.
• Efforts to rapidly industrialize powder bed fusion (PBF) technology and increase productivity resulted in ballooning costs and further extending the timeline for customers to gain confidence in critical application processes. Although costs per part have potential to decrease with new technologies, initial investments are still a difficult sell made only more difficult in the current financial climate for AM companies.
• AM Research believes that HP is now positioned to gain significant share in the metal binder jetting market (MBJ) and moving into a position of driving the market. HP’s association with Indo-MIM is a tell-tale sign that the market is ready for a new leader to bring metal binder jetting into a more industrial future. Still, the MBJ market was the only technology segment in metal AM to see a contraction in hardware revenues in 2023.
• Polymer AM material sales was a bright spot in the market for 2023 and is expected to intensify in 2024 as machine orders also should increase, driving further material sales. This is evidenced by companies like 3D Systems and Stratasys reporting consumables growth in 2023, while independent material developers such as BASF’s Forward AM also indicating impressive growth in 2023.