Quest for Innovation

Potential, future, forecasts

The industrial additive manufacturing of metals and polymers is undergoing rapid development. The AMPOWER Report for 2023 assumes that the global market will grow by an average of 17.7% per year.

• Plastics are still ahead: the market volume for additive 3D printing with polymers will reach 6.5 billion euros worldwide in 2022. This is more than twice as much as metal printing (EUR 3 billion).
• Metal is catching up rapidly: While the market growth for polymers will average 13% by 2027, the growth forecast for metal 3D printing is almost 30% per year.

One of the reasons for this is that the further development of metal-based 3D printing means that even the more demanding metal applications can now be additively manufactured efficiently. For example, important innovations in the field of support structure-free laser melting are approaching, which will significantly reduce costs. This makes new applications, for example in medical technology or mechanical engineering, economically viable and successful in terms of market growth.

The market for additive manufacturing is driven by several factors. These include:

• the increasing need for faster and more efficient production
• more efficient use of resources through less material consumption and more recycling
• the ability to manufacture complex and customized products