Industrial 3D printing materials manufacturer 6K Additive has announced a campus expansion at its Burgettstown, Pennsylvania headquarters that will add four new buildings and scale annual powder production from 200 metric tons to 1,000 metric tons across 45 acres.
The company broke ground on March 30. Two funding sources are backing the work: a $23.4 million Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III grant from the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office, which covers half the expansion costs, and AU$48 million (approximately US$31.4 million) raised through an IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange completed in December 2025.
“The combination of federal support through the DPA Title III grant and the capital from our successful IPO allows us to fast-track our vision of a secure, sustainable, and domestic supply of critical metals,” said Frank Roberts, CEO of 6K Additive.
Boosting High-Performance Metal Output
That capital is going into the existing Burgettstown site in several directions at once. The footprint of the current powder production building, which handles nickel, titanium, and stainless steel, will triple.
A dedicated melt building for ingot production, an alloy warehouse, and a pre- and post-processing production facility are all part of the first phase. A refractory metals facility follows in 2027, with the expanded site expected to be producing by the end of this year.
Production at the site will support the most demanding segments of the defense and aerospace industries. Tungsten, rhenium, and C-103 alloy for hypersonics and missile systems, nickel and titanium powders for aerospace propulsion, and specialized alloys for nuclear and fusion energy applications are all within the expanded scope.
During construction, the project is expected to support 37 jobs on site. Once running, 17 full-time engineering and technical positions are projected to follow.
“We aren’t just adding floor space and buildings; we’re constructing a world-class industrial campus to anchor a secure supply chain across the defense, aerospace, and energy industries,” added the CEO.
Western aerospace and defense have been working to reduce dependence on Russian and Chinese titanium and specialty metal supply chains, and a domestic producer moving from 200 to 1,000 metric tons of annual capacity fits squarely into that effort. The DoD’s decision to fund half the expansion through a DPA mechanism suggests this is being treated as an industrial security problem, not just a commercial one.
Financing the Domestic Supply Chain
The campus expansion follows a sequence of government support for the company through a tiered capital structure.
In addition to the $23.4 million DPA grant and recent IPO proceeds, the company secured a $27.4 million EXIM loan in late 2025. Additionally, a $1.95 million Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) contract, tasked with converting military-grade scrap into high-performance powder using the company’s proprietary UniMelt process, signals that the facility is already being integrated into federal industrial supply chains beyond the primary construction phase.
6K Additive is not the only company drawing on federal support to address the same gap. Materials company IperionX secured a contract worth up to $47.1 million from the DoD to build a fully integrated domestic titanium supply chain spanning mineral extraction through to metal production, with projects targeting Tennessee and Virginia.
Like the DPA grant structure underpinning the Burgettstown expansion, it frames the supply problem as one the market alone is unlikely to solve, and IperionX is similarly built around proprietary non-Kroll production technologies to get there.
3D Printing Industry is inviting speakers for its 2026 Additive Manufacturing Applications (AMA) series, covering Energy, Healthcare, Automotive and Mobility, Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Software. Each online event focuses on real production deployments, qualification, and supply chain integration. Practitioners interested in contributing can complete the call for speakers form here.
To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, don’t forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn.
Explore the full Future of 3D Printing and Executive Survey series from 3D Printing Industry, featuring perspectives from CEOs, engineers, and industry leaders on the industrialization of additive manufacturing, 3D printing industry trends 2026, qualification, supply chains, and additive manufacturing industry analysis.
Featured image shows 6K Additive leadership team officially breaking ground for the expansion. Photo via 6K Additive.
