3D Printing Industry asked some of the most influential people in additive manufacturing to identity the near term trends in the 3D printing industry to watch for 2026.
The annual 3DPI Executive Survey asks a cross-section of executives, technologists, service providers, and ecosystem builders to identify the near-term trends that will matter most over the next 12 months. The replies converge on a single theme: the industry’s centre of gravity is shifting from new machine stories to repeatable outcomes. Scale is no longer a press release. It is utilisation, yield, uptime, and a unit cost that survives procurement. Several contributors point to consolidation as a feature, not a failure, of a capital-intensive market where software, materials, inspection, and post-processing determine whether hardware is a tool or a liability.
The replies are printed in full below, you can also read our summary article of forecasts for the future of 3D printing.
Underneath theme of commercial hardening sits a technical one. Digital threads, in-process monitoring, and closed-loop quality are moving from “nice to have” to table stakes, especially as regulated sectors pull AM deeper into production. Cost per part continues to fall through speed and yield improvements, while materials development is increasingly application-led rather than speculative. Defense demand remains a forcing function, not just for spend, but for qualification discipline and distributed manufacturing playbooks. The result is an industry that looks less like a collection of pilots and more like an operational stack: secure data, validated workflows, credible post-processing, and inspection tight enough to reduce the “certainty tax.”
The additive manufacturing industry is entering a defining year. After navigating periods of rapid expansion, market correction, and evolving expectations, 2026 marks a decisive shift from what’s possible to what’s proven. Industry leaders are converging on a clear message: this is the year 3D printing earns its place as a mature, reliable manufacturing technology.
Several interconnected trends are shaping this evolution. Consolidation continues to reshape the competitive landscape as the market rewards companies with genuine scale, mature operations, and proven value creation. The economics of additive manufacturing are improving through faster production speeds, higher yields, and expanding material capabilities: making the technology viable for an ever-broader range of production applications. Digital workflows, AI-driven optimization, and closed-loop quality systems are transforming 3D printing from an expert-dependent craft into an accessible, intelligent manufacturing platform.
Critically, success in 2026 will be defined not by 3D printer deployments but by utilization rates and real-world application performance. Defense and aerospace applications are demonstrating what mature, scaled AM adoption looks like, while sectors from medical devices to consumer goods are increasingly treating additive manufacturing as a production method rather than a prototyping step.
Perhaps most significantly, the industry is embracing a fundamental truth: the future belongs not to those chasing the next technical breakthrough, but to those delivering consistent, scalable results that solve real manufacturing problems. As you’ll read in the perspectives that follow, 2026 feels less like another year of groundwork and more like the moment when years of development begin to show up clearly in scaled production, sustained impact, and genuine industrial confidence.
As always, get in touch if you’d like to share your thoughts on the future of 3D printing.
Phil DeSimone, CEO, Carbon
I think this year will be less about the bold and exciting promises of what’s possible with AM and more about steady proof of what’s scalable, profitable, dependable and actually worth integrating into everyday manufacturing. One of the most meaningful developments will always be AM continuing to earn its place in the mainstream. I would also expect continued consolidation. AM is fundamentally challenging – it’s capital-intensive, and hardware and materials each bring their own complexities, even aside from the broader operational picture. So looking at the market longer-term, the players that remain will naturally be larger, more mature, and oriented around sustainable value creation rather than short-term wins. At the same time, the model for growth is changing. Success will come from working deeply with brands and OEMs to solve real problems and bring differentiated products to market. Printer deployments alone won’t define success; utilization will. Revenue will follow application success, not the other way around.
Overall, 2026 feels like a point where the industry’s years of groundwork begin to show up more clearly in scaled production, real utilization, and sustained impact – and that’s a very healthy and encouraging place for the industry to be.
Isabelle Hachette, CEO, INTERSPECTRAL
In 2026, the Additive Manufacturing market will continue the digital thread journey, providing seamless communication, real-time monitoring, and remote diagnostics. It will be vital to transform complex process data into real-time actionable insights and enable manufacturers to scale additive production with confidence, consistency, and true industrial reliability and data security.
François Minec, VP & Global Head of Sales and Business Development, HP AM
Heading into 2026, adoption of additive manufacturing is being driven by steady improvements to its underlying economics and operational fundamentals. The most important shift is the continued reduction in cost per part. Faster production speeds and higher yields are making additive manufacturing viable across a broader range of end-use applications.
Alongside improvements in part economics, advances in material performance across both polymer and metal platforms are expanding the range of applications suited to additive production. Manufacturers are achieving more predictable outcomes, tighter tolerances, and higher repeatability, reducing the friction of integrating additive into established production environments where uptime and quality assurance are non-negotiable, particularly in sectors such as orthotics and prosthetics and unmanned systems.
Demand in the drones sector is being reinforced by continued momentum in defense, which will remain a meaningful growth driver through 2026. Requirements for rapid iteration, secure supply chains, and distributed manufacturing are accelerating investment in additive manufacturing capabilities, with spillover effects into adjacent segments, including aerospace.
At the same time, additive manufacturing is becoming more deeply embedded within digital production and on-demand manufacturing models. Companies are increasingly using digital part inventories and localized production to reduce physical stock, shorten lead times, and improve resilience. What was once framed as a flexibility advantage is now an operational one, directly tied to inventory strategy and fulfilment performance.
Looking ahead, progress will depend on how easily additive manufacturing can be deployed at scale. Clearer qualification pathways and simpler workflows, supported by better integration across technology and operations, are becoming just as important as hardware innovation. As additive manufacturing matures, success will be defined by execution and industrial integration, allowing teams to focus on higher-value design and production work.
Chris Wang, Product Manager, Resin 3D Printers, Creality / PioCreat
The 3D printing industry in 2026 will enter a key phase of deep industrial adoption, moving from rapid expansion to real-world application. Focus is shifting from technology itself to how it creates sustained value in production environments. Key trends to watch include:
From Prototyping to Industrial Production
With improved machine stability, material reliability, and software ecosystems, 3D printing is evolving from an R&D tool to a production-ready solution. In sectors such as footwear, wearables, and consumer electronics, 3D printing is taking on batch production roles, where consistency and reliability are crucial.
Materials Drive Productivity
The performance and ecosystem of materials are becoming central to scaling 3D printing. Demand for high-performance engineering, functional composites, and recyclable or biodegradable materials is growing. End-user needs for composite structures, lightweight designs, and functional integration are driving closer collaboration between materials, processes, and design.
AI and Cloud Workflows Enable Smarter Manufacturing
From design to print execution, digitalization and intelligence are integrating throughout the manufacturing process. AI and cloud systems enhance efficiency and stability while lowering barriers to entry, transforming 3D printing from an expert tool into an accessible production technology.
Vertical Industries Unlock High-Value Applications
Sectors like dental, automotive, aerospace, and medical devices continue to generate high-value demand. Dental 3D printing, in particular, is experiencing strong growth, with integrated solutions maintaining rapid expansion. High-barrier, high-value vertical markets are attracting capital, technology, and skilled professionals.
Overall, 2026 marks a shift from technology-driven growth to ecosystem-driven value creation, emphasizing intelligence, industry collaboration, and sustainable business models.
Maxime Delmée, CEO and Founder, AM 4 AM
In 2025, Metal Additive Manufacturing clearly entered its production era. The industry is moving beyond isolated pilot projects toward industrial deployment. The number of large-scale system releases this year is one of the most important testimonials of this change in paradigm.
At AM 4 AM, we see materials as the cornerstone of this shift. Powders are no longer passive inputs but active enablers of performance, consistency, and scalability. Purpose-designed materials optimized for additive manufacturing processes are unlocking new applications in preserving density, surface quality, and mechanical performance.
The emergence of new high-performance metal powders is expanding the design space for additive manufacturing. These materials are opening the door to industrial use cases that were previously out of reach, particularly in sectors where lightweighting must be balanced with demanding mechanical and functional requirements.
Together, these developments mark a decisive step toward scalable, reliable, and economically viable metal AM production, where materials, machines, and processes are designed to work as one, and with our new equipment park inaugurated in 2025, we are clearly positioning our company as a global materials solution provider.
Xiang Zhou, CEO, Revopoint Global Inc.
The future of 3D industry depends on integrating digital capture and additive manufacturing. High-accuracy 3D scanning, vital for digital twins, shifts 3D printing from prototyping to scalable, intelligent manufacturing.
Stefanie Brickwede, Managing Director, Mobility/Medical goes Additive (MGA)
In the short term, machines, especially in the desktop sector, will become easier to use, cheaper and thus even more widespread. AM printers are already widely used in the prototyping sector.
Additive manufacturing is currently conquering the lifestyle sector. Whether it’s shoes, lamps or vases, almost every large department store now offers printed items. Often, these are no longer identified or recognisable as such.
Another short-term trend is the use of additive manufacturing in the defence sector. There is no army in the world that does not have additive manufacturing among its top ten technologies.
Due to the global political situation, regions such as Europe will focus more on their own capacities, driven in part by the further spread of additive manufacturing in the defence sector.
In the medical field, applications that have been tried and tested for years are increasingly being used in patient treatment. This is also being driven by ongoing war activities, where prostheses, for example, can quickly provide relief for those affected by war injuries.
Innovations are focusing on improving the quality of printed parts, better adhesion and in situ monitoring, as well as further post-processing steps and materials, such as lacquers, to increase quality.
There is a growing awareness that raw materials can be saved thanks to the different design options available. In times of critical resources, this also plays a more important role for political decision-makers. The European Commission is currently focusing on critical materials and resilient value chains. The technological answer to this is additive manufacturing. This will soon also be reflected in public funding opportunities. We are working towards this in the network.
Kevin Cedrone, PhD, Co-founder and Head of R&D, Lumafield
As the industry matures, we are moving away from treating 3D printing as a “black box” and toward a closed-loop ecosystem where industrial CT scanning serves as the critical feedback mechanism. We’ll shrink the “certainty tax,” which is the high cost and time required to qualify new materials or complex internal geometries. By integrating automated, in-line CT inspection, engineers will be able to validate as-built parts against design intent from CAD, design tolerances, and approved parts in real-time, allowing them to quickly pinpoint issues like dimensional inaccuracy, trapped powder, closed channels, warpage, cracks, and porosity.
Trent Esser, Co-Founder and CEO, Printerior
Looking toward 2026, the 3D printing industry will look far less like “3D printing for aerospace prototypes” and much more like “3D printing as a real manufacturing method”— a real movement away from a prototyping niche and toward being seen and used as a practical manufacturing tool. The most important near-term trend is the continued shift from experimental use cases into repeatable, production-ready applications.
The biggest shift I’m seeing is an expansion beyond traditional strength- and engineering-heavy categories, like aerospace and automotive, and movement into consumer goods, retail, and architectural products. These are markets where speed, customization, and short-to-mid run production offer clear advantages over conventional manufacturing. As confidence in repeatable processes and quality control grows, we will see higher-volume production programs, more standardized workflows, and fewer one-off experiments.
By 2026, more brands will treat additive manufacturing as a viable production method rather than a prototyping step. This transition will be driven not by breakthrough hardware alone, but by greater maturity across the full workflow—materials, software, post-processing, and operational know-how—allowing additive to integrate more naturally into existing manufacturing and supply chain strategies.
Mahdi Jamshid, Director Market Intelligence, Wohlers Associates, powered by ASTM International
In 2026, Chinese companies will keep expanding, particularly in Europe, while their U.S. growth stays limited by security concerns. Service providers are positioned for continued growth. High interest rates and expanding applications mean AM users will continue outsourcing to specialized, qualified AM vendors rather than buying equipment. Meanwhile, regulated sectors (aerospace, defense, energy, medical) continue to invest selectively in platforms that are already audit-ready and supported by clear standards and serviceability. Defense funding will remain the industry’s biggest growth driver. Software will play a bigger role in scaling production and streamlining qualification processes. Most companies will allocate dedicated AI budgets for the first time, though focused on practical efficiency gains rather than moonshots. M&A activity will pick back up, but at smaller deal sizes and realistic valuations. Large corporations may enter AM through acquisitions as a portfolio diversification play. DED and WAAM will continue outpacing other metal processes, in terms of growth, with WAAM particularly gaining traction for large-format applications where wire-based materials offer compelling cost advantages. Finally, we’re expecting to see more print farms launching across Western markets, driven by accessible low-cost machines that finally deliver quality results.
Rich Garrity, Chief Business Unit Officer, Stratasys
Additive manufacturing will accelerate its mainstream adoption as a production technology in 2026, with polymer AM taking a central role in tooling, service parts, and an expanding range of end-use components. Throughput and repeatability gains across newer systems will eliminate the long-held misconception that AM is “too slow” for production. Modern 3D platforms, designed for industrial uptime, validated workflows, and factory-grade reliability, anchor this shift as manufacturers redesign production lines around repeatable, scalable polymer processes.
Materials innovation will also expand the applicability of additive manufacturing. Advances in engineered polymers, powder materials, and intelligent software allow additive manufacturing to integrate into factory systems with ease. Material diversity expands the range of production-validated applications, while automation-driven build prep and QA tools eliminate trial-and-error and ensure predictable part quality.
Additive will also continue to support supply chain reinvention in response to geopolitical uncertainty, tariff exposure, and rising pressure to localize production. We believe that digital inventories, distributed manufacturing networks, and qualified additive workflows will continue to replace brittle, offshore-dependent models.
Finally, the industry is shifting from general-purpose AM adoption to deep, vertical applications. Aerospace organizations demand certified workflows for drill guides, composite tooling, and environmental control parts; automotive manufacturers rely on validated additive templates for assembly fixtures, end-of-arm tooling, and service components; healthcare accelerates toward personalized, regulatory-ready applications. This can all be delivered through vertically tuned AM solutions and scaled service offerings.
Dayton Horvath, Director, Emerging Technology and Investments, AMT-The Association For Manufacturing Technology
Watch for a small wave of company acquisitions, restructurings, and general instability that lingers from the tail end of the VC investments made in 2021-2023. Some VC-backed companies have extended their runways any way they can while others have pivoted more towards defense opportunities to sustain themselves. Defense acquisitions processes, and improving upon them, are a focus in the United States and a potential opportunity for technology and service providers the US government. Abroad, Chinese technology providers will continue to make commercial advances around the world, with a more muted showing in the US. 2026 takes the reserved optimism that 2025 had coming out of 2024, and extends it linearly.
Sascha Schwarz, CTO, TUM Venture Labs
By 2026, industrial additive manufacturing will decisively narrow its focus: market pressure will eliminate non-viable use cases and business models and force a transition from selling machines to delivering qualified materials, certified workflows, and application-ready solutions.
Application-driven AM now means qualification-first, data-centric, and governance-ready: tightly integrated with robotic automation and physical AI to enable distributed manufacturing and real supply-chain resilience.
At the same time, the next wave of progress will be driven by materials: advances in ceramics and silicones are unlocking applications where additive manufacturing moves from optional to essential.
Rob Lent, COO & Co-Founder, Vision Miner
What I’m seeing in industrial FDM right now is this mix of AI, better software, and a lot more sensors showing up in the machines. It’s not a clean overnight shift—more like everything finally catching up at the same time. The hobby crowd has been experimenting like crazy for years, and the industrial side is basically pulling the best ideas forward and making them work reliably in a real manufacturing setting.
You’ve got printers that are actually paying attention to what they’re doing while they’re running. Little things—temperature drift in weird corners of the chamber, a bit of vibration on the toolhead, a filament that’s slightly out of spec because it sat out too long—those used to be invisible. Now the machines can notice that stuff and feed it into an AI model, so you don’t have to wait until the part cools to find out something went wrong. For aerospace and flight-critical parts, that shift alone is big.
The software side is finally catching up to the materials, too. High-temp polymers like PEEK, ULTEM, PPSU… these don’t behave in a simple or predictable way. They’ve got these narrow thermal windows, they crystallize differently, they’ll warp or stress a part out if the chamber dips for a moment. And some of the new tools are starting to actually model that—how the bead cools, how the layers fuse, where the part might fail before you even hit start. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s a lot closer than anything we’ve had.
Where this gets interesting is when the sensor data gets looped back into those simulations. The machine starts correcting itself as it runs, instead of leaving everything to the operator. It’s not magic, but it does make the whole process a lot more predictable and manufacturable, especially when you’re dealing with the high-temp stuff. We’ll start seeing more of that in 2026 as these systems mature enough for real production environments.
Glynn Fletcher, President, EOS North America
The best way to predict the future is to create it” is easy to say more difficult to do, especially when applied to additive manufacturing (AM). AM is not a passive technological trend; it is an active process of creation that demands sustained effort, investment, and resilience. Creation, by its nature, is arduous, requiring organizations to overcome technical, cultural, and operational barriers before meaningful value is realized.
Recently, there’s been a degree of negativity surrounding the AM industry. My advice is to disregard those who spread pessimism. I firmly believe that the AM industry has reached a turning point. At EOS, we’re experiencing more exciting prospects than ever before. The range of promising opportunities available to us is larger than it has ever been. Government agencies, major OEMs, and top-tier companies are now integrating AM into their products and programs. They are fully committed, and there’s no going back for them.
The evolution of additive manufacturing closely aligns with the Gartner Hype Cycle. Early enthusiasm positioned AM as a universal replacement for traditional manufacturing, followed by a period of disillusionment as companies encountered challenges in qualification, repeatability, cost justification, and scalability. Today, AM is progressing along the slope of enlightenment, where proven, high-value applications are delivering tangible results. Industries such as Space, Defense, Medical, Automotive, Energy Generation and Conservation, and even Consumer Electronics are all actively involved and poised to scale their AM commitments. Today, virtually every rocket engine that ignites to propel a payload into orbit relies on a myriad of additively manufactured parts.
Julien Barthes, CEO, 3Deus Dynamics SAS
By 2026, one of the most significant trends in the 3D printing industry will be the acceleration of defense and aerospace applications driven by advanced materials. Additive manufacturing is moving beyond structural parts toward functional, high-performance materials offering fire resistance, electromagnetic shielding, electrical conductivity and lightweight multifunctionality. The ability to qualify these materials within repeatable, industrial-grade processes will be a key differentiator for aerospace and defense adoption.
Harshil Goel, Founder and CEO, Dyndrite Corporation
Knowledge will continue to be democratized.
Knowledge will enable users to make previously difficult parts, and produce parts faster; making AM more economically viable. AM will be adopted faster due to knowledge sharing. Nearly all Dyndrite LPBF initiatives are bearing fruit in this direction. Printing low angles with a good surface finish in Ti, IN718, CP1 will become common knowledge. 718 was already demonstrated by Ursa Major on Aconity, Additive Industries, EOS, Renishaw SLM, and Velo platforms in 2025.
An educated user base will place more demands on hardware, software and materials providers. There will be less room to hide. Fiat Lux!
ASTM’s ICAM will continue to become the definitive place to find this knowledge.
Alexandre d’Orsetti, CEO, Sculpteo
Consolidation: 3D printing companies are merging or forming partnerships to combine technologies and customer bases. This trend is reducing market fragmentation and increasing competition among the top players. The consolidation is driven by market realities: there were too many players, and only those delivering clear value to customers are thriving—offering more standardized and professional production, higher capacity, specialty materials, and a strong understanding of end-use applications.
Dan Fernback, Vice President, JuggerBot 3D
Projection 001: Specialized Materials, Applied Standards
As pellet-fed additive manufacturing matures, material development and its respective applicability will be driven by application-specific requirements rather than general performance. Industry standards, such as FST, ESD, and industry compliances, will act as gatekeepers to shape adoption roadmaps and system design. Having these standards in place will accelerate qualification within industries but also will enable greenfield applications that specifically exist due to the co-development of advanced materials and additive manufacturing systems (rather than retrofitted into existing systems).
Projection 002: Process Insight/Data Availability/Bridging the Know-How Gap
As we have seen increased volumes of process data through our user base, the desire for deeper understanding and efficiency will imperatively grow in tandem. Tools for data capture and monitoring have become increasingly available in recent years. The ability to translate that data into actionable and efficient outcomes will become a primary driver for differentiation across our industry. Few organisations will have the expertise to capture the ideal insights and control outcomes on a system-to-system basis, making process knowledge and control strategy development a competitive value enabler for the years ahead.
Josh Dugdale, Head of AMUK, Additive Manufacturing UK
In 2026, the additive manufacturing sector will be less focused on new machines and technology development, and more on growing industrial confidence in the technology itself. The sector is shifting decisively towards the industrialisation of AM, with qualification, standards, skills and repeatability emerging as the real differentiators. As additive manufacturing expands further into regulated production environments, success will depend on how effectively organisations can integrate AM into their supply chains. The winners will not be those chasing the next technical breakthrough, but those embedding additive manufacturing as a reliable, scalable part of mainstream production.
Craig Monk, Owner, 3D Print Monkey/Liquid models 3D
Near term, 2026 feels like the year 3D printing gets judged less on what it can do, and more on how reliably it does it day after day. We’ll see continued downward pressure on hardware margins, so the value moves into ecosystems: software that’s easier to trust, materials that behave consistently, and automation that reduces the “babysitting” factor. For resin printing, affordability will keep improving, but the bigger story is higher-grade resins becoming more accessible — tougher parts, better dimensional stability, and more options that suit professional workflows. At the same time, print farms and distributed production will keep growing, which puts a spotlight on fleet management, traceability, and quality control. In short: fewer gimmicks, more production thinking.
Bhaskar Dutta, President & COO, DM3D Technology
Near-term trends in AM include an increase in part size capability. Having gained confidence in producing small, intricate parts using PBF technologies, the industry is increasingly interested in printing larger parts. This is where the DED technologies come into play. We believe that adoption of DED technologies will grow significantly in 2026, thereby enhancing AM part-size capability. Another area that I expect to grow in 2026 and the following years is the usage of AI in AM to build an end-to-end digitally controlled manufacturing process, resulting in enhanced part quality and reproducibility, while providing better traceability.
Jason Bao, VP, LDO MOTORS
High Speed, Multi-Colors, AI engaged tech.
Martin Bondéus, Founder, CEO, Bondtech AB
First, multimaterial and multicolour printing will see significantly broader adoption. As new enabling technologies—such as advanced material handling and switching systems—become commercially available and scalable, manufacturers will increasingly leverage multimaterial capabilities to produce more functional, integrated, and application-specific parts. This shift will accelerate the move from prototyping toward end-use production across multiple industries.
Second, artificial intelligence will play a more central role throughout the additive manufacturing workflow. AI-driven tools will be increasingly used for print path optimization, process planning, and real-time parameter adjustment, improving print quality, repeatability, and efficiency. Beyond the printer itself, AI will also support broader workflow automation, including job scheduling, failure prediction, and material usage optimization.
Finally, the market is expected to experience continued consolidation among additive manufacturing companies. Competitive pressures, rising development costs, and the need for integrated hardware-software-materials ecosystems will drive mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships. This consolidation will favor companies with strong intellectual property, scalable technologies, and clear value propositions for industrial customers.
Sasha Bruml, Managing Director, 3D People
The near-term trend for 2026 is a strategic consolidation of technology. A few years ago, the industry was defined by disruptive new players; today, it is defined by established leaders expanding their footprints through strategic white-labeling and material specialization. HP’s recent move into industrial FDM reminiscent of their early days with Stratasys signals that the growth in 2026 will be driven by high-performance materials like Ultem and PEEK rather than entirely new printing processes.
For service providers like 3D People, the trend to watch is how these ‘innovator disruptors’ pivot back to proven platforms to meet industrial demand. We are entering a phase where reliability and material certification outweigh the ‘newness’ of a machine. In 2026, we expect to see the industry focus on filtering out the noise and delivering high-value, industrial-grade parts through more transparent, user-friendly digital workflows
Nick Allen, CEO, 3DPRINTUK
Higher volume orders:
In the last year or so we have seen a dramatic increase in high value/volume orders with larger companies ordering greater and greater volumes as they drink the Kool-Aid of what AM production can offer. We fully expect this to continue as more and more companies take the plunge.
These companies need a few things:
Capacity and manufacturing efficiency
One of AM’s things is speed, this is easy when you compare printing a run of ten items, when compared to injection moulding or CNC, but another when they want 10,000+ parts. This is where many suppliers fall over – they can do the parts, but not in the time needed. We’ve invested over £2m in the last year to massively boost our capacity to cater for this, and will continue to do this as demand grows.
However, the amount of kit you have is nothing without manufacturing efficiency – printing thousands of parts is easy, but getting them out the door quickly is not. Combinations of software and automation are going to be key drivers in making the AM sphere a contender for high-volume manufacturing, and a key focus or ours in 2026.
Quality management
With quantity, slips quality. Managing a large fleet of machines opens a supplier up to a high risk of varying accuracies across a larger number of machines. It is essential that an above OEM standard of accuracy monitoring is in place as companies ordering larger volumes of parts tend to have much greater QC scritinisation in place, which in turn means that the supplier needs to step up as they can no longer rely on a calibration once in a blue moon, no, print and hope is no longer viable, they need constant monitoring and adjustment on a regular basis. We have developed our own RAMP calibration software to do this and are about to launch the second tranche of this to further improve our outputs.
Price
There has been a bit of a price war going on for years now – competition is good though, and drives the innovation to produce parts cost-effectively. This often comes at a cost of quality if you don’t have the right systems in place, but is not exclusive to this if you do. The continuing trend for lower prices is also good in expanding the AM market, as if you can make your offerings more cost-effective, you open them up to much larger volumes that would have traditionally gone to injection mould or alike.
Max Funkner, Founder, 3DWithUs
AI generators made a noticeable leap last year, and in 2026, this trend will continue with further optimization and wider adoption. What is especially interesting is how quickly chat-based AI tools are starting to generate simple, printable 3D models. While still basic, these tools are already lowering the barrier to entry, and in 2026 we will see more users actively relying on AI not just for ideas, but for producing usable starting points for 3D printing.
Another trend that will clearly carry over into 2026 is the success of tool-changer systems in the personal and prosumer 3D printing segment. What proved itself in 2025 will not be ignored by the wider market. More brands are expected to introduce their own versions, as the benefits are difficult to overlook: significant material waste reduction, faster multi-material workflows.
Finally, toward the end of 2025, we saw increasing investor confidence and substantial funding flowing into Chinese personal 3D printing companies. While 2026 may still be too early to judge the full impact, it is reasonable to expect the first results of this investment. It can be seen as faster product iteration, tighter hardware-software integration, or more aggressive market expansion.
Dipl.eng. Stefan Ritt, Founder and CEO, AM-3D printing market integration
I do see a clear focus of additive manufacturing use in the global defense sector (no surprise) which will establish AM as a technology of choice for many related applications. Many projects are on route globally to manifest that. Plastics, metals, and ceramics will have priority as materials of choice.
Secondly, I do see a trend to use printfarms with more inexpensive tabletop printers (mainly FDM) as installations for series and mass production applications. This will weaken the market size for professional plastics 3D printers shifting into that direction.
Thirdly, we all have to recognize that the fast high-tech innovation cycles currently do happen in China and not in the Western hemisphere. Furthermore, the current developments we all can read in the press every day are not suited to turn that situation around on short notice, and restrictions in trade will only enforce this trend I feel. China is the current factory of the world in many respects, and therefore, cooperation rather than separation will be the key to future global business, also in the AM field.
Finally, I would like to point out the promising developments in both concrete printing and bioprinting. Those areas are often overlooked a bit through the glasses of industrial printing, but will become a steady tool very fast in their corresponding fields.
Tobias Rittig, Ph.D., CTO, Additive Appearance
In full-color 3D printing, especially with the Material-Jetting (MJ) technology we are seeing a spike of interest from the Chinese market. New hardware manufacturers are entering the market and trying to compete with the established providers – even in the West. Fueled by the multi-material (and thus multi-color) wave that goes through the consumer FFF sector, the goal seems to be to build smaller inkjet machines at an accessible price point for prosumers instead of keeping this technology exclusive to rich businesses. 3D models with separated parts for multiple colors become more available on the relevant 3D repositories but we are still lacking a variety of 3D printable but textured models.
A wide selection of Generative AI services are appearing that provide relief to this problem with an automatic texturing functionality for 3D meshes given a reference image or a text description. With multiple large tech companies even open-sourcing their models such technology will be spreading even more.
Even the SLA market is making baby-steps towards multi-material printers which is exciting for two reasons. First, they could be upgraded to full-colour with the right software. Second, they can combine highly functional materials with color and aesthetics better than inkjet, FFF or MJF can.
Overall, the trend to more functional resins (Dental, Medical) and tougher materials continues, which can open up new applications if the price-per-part drops in the future.
Henrik Lund-Nielsen, Founder & General Manager, COBOD International A/S
The construction industry trends for 2026 will build upon the momentum established in 2025:
3DCP projects are getting larger and larger
In 2026, we will see a significant increase in the scale and volume of 3D printed construction projects being completed. For example, the first of the 20,000 m² UCC school buildings in Qatar — which involves two COBOD BOD XL printers, the largest in the world, each measuring 50 m in length, 30 m in width, and 15 m in height — will be completed. This project, destined for the Guinness Book of Records, will be 12 times larger than the biggest 3D printed building to date.
In 2026, we already know that we will see commercial housing projects with 100+ units in Europe and likely also in the US.
Multiple new applications beyond buildings for people
The range of applications for 3D printing in construction will continue to expand. Beyond traditional buildings, we will see more 3D printed infrastructure such as data centers, warehouses, water tanks, caissons, windmill towers, seawalls, marine life improvement structures, and more.
COBOD already has four customers in Asia, Europe, and the US producing various marine life improvement structures, ranging from artificial reef modules to underwater harbor enhancement structures and coastal barriers.
We expect to see an increased growth in the use of the 3DCP method for non-building projects.
Focus on printing with real concrete sourced locally, not dry mix mortars
Due to the increase in scale and the growing diversity of applications, the advantages of using real concrete over dry mix mortars will become even more apparent in 2026. As larger structures are printed, the cost savings of using real concrete increase significantly.
Real concrete offers 8–10× lower costs, greater strength, improved flexibility, and better sustainability compared to dry mix mortars. This shift will drive more projects to adopt real concrete, enhancing the overall quality and durability of 3D printed structures.
Increased speed, layer height, and efficiency
Multiple projects completed in 2025 demonstrated the impressive execution speed achievable with modern 3DCP. For instance, Danish 3DCP Group — which printed Europe’s largest 3DCP project to date, consisting of 36 student housing units across six buildings of 270 m² each — completed the final 270 m² building in just one week. In the US, Verotouch completed both the walls and slabs of a 140 m² house in just 6 days (4 days for walls + 2 days for slabs). The project that received the most attention was PERI’s new Dreihaus (three house) apartment complex, where a three story, 750 m² building with multiple apartments was completed in 26 days.
This faster execution is driven by more experienced printing crews and the adoption of taller layer heights. COBOD customers are now regularly printing with 4 cm, 5 cm, 8 cm, and even 10 cm layer heights — possible only when printing with real concrete containing aggregate up to 10 mm. Moving from the traditional 2 cm layer height to these larger heights dramatically increases the speed of execution.
Multi functional 3D printers
The development of multi functional 3D printers will continue to advance. In 2025, in cooperation with TU Braunschweig, we revealed the first ever multifunctional construction robot based on 3D printing technology. In addition to standard printing, the system was capable of shotcreting, enabled by a vertical extension unit holding a robotic arm (both developed by COBOD) equipped with a shotcreting applicator.
In 2026, we will see new end of arm tools such as smoothing, painting, scraping, and sanding tools. We believe these printers — capable of performing multiple tasks with a single setup — will further increase automation levels and reduce manpower requirements as well as the need for additional trades.
Martin Jewell, CTO, Rapid Fusion
We’re seeing several significant shifts converging in 2026. First, distributed manufacturing for defence applications is gaining real momentum—the ability to print parts closer to the point of need is no longer theoretical, it’s becoming operationally critical.
Metal printing is approaching an inflection point. As costs decrease and the barriers to entry come down, we expect to see explosive growth in adoption across sectors that previously couldn’t justify the investment.
Recycling and circularity are finally moving from conference talking points to genuine customer requirements. After years of discussion, we’re now seeing real demand for closing the loop—taking end-of-life parts and converting them back into usable feedstock.
And for large-format additive manufacturing specifically, the technology is finally delivering on its promise of production-viable speeds. LFAM is maturing from a prototyping curiosity into a legitimate manufacturing process.
Karl Forbes, Chief Technology Officer, Xaar
In 2026 3D printing will continue its transition from a specialist print capability to becoming an embedded part of mainstream manufacturing. Increasingly, 3D printing is being adopted alongside traditional processes, where it enables customisation, functional integration, and unique digital manufacturing capability while meeting industrial requirements for reliability, repeatability, and scale.
A major near‑term trend is market expansion through a wider range of printable – or jettable – materials. Industrial users are pushing beyond standard polymers towards highly functional fluids. Inkjet technology is central to this shift, and at Xaar, our printhead architecture and unique technologies are designed to handle ultra‑high viscosity fluids while delivering high material laydown. Together, these allow the jetting of highly loaded and application‑specific materials that were previously difficult to process reliably, supporting new additive manufacturing applications.
Improved efficiency and lower‑cost solutions remain key as manufacturers are increasingly focused on throughput, consistency and cost per part. Advances in inkjet systems, fluid control, and scalable laydown are reducing waste, increasing build speed, and supporting production‑ready performance.
We are also seeing full‑colour 3D printing continue to move beyond industrial settings into homes, small offices and academia. Improvements in printer developments thanks to inkjet performance, software workflows and affordability are broadening access, enabling much wider adoption.
Joshua Pearce, Thompson Chair of Innovation, Professor, Western University
In efforts from companies to gain control of their supply chains in the face of uncertainty and consumers to reduce product costs from trade disruptions, tariffs, and inflation, a greater degree of distributed manufacturing will take hold globally using AM.
Gerald Mitteramskogler, CEO, Incus GmbH
Looking ahead to 2026, additive manufacturing is moving decisively into true mass-market adoption. Consumer electronics manufacturers are increasingly relying on AM for compact, high-precision components as material choices expand and costs continue to decline, a shift we’re already seeing accelerate across the industry. At the same time, the medical sector is rapidly scaling its use of 3D printing for personalized implants, orthopedic components, and patient-specific devices, enabled by major advances in speed, accuracy, and multi-material processing.
For me, 2026 marks the tipping point: the year AM finally breaks free from its prototyping roots and establishes itself as a practical, scalable production technology across multiple mainstream industries.
José Luis Sánchez, Managing Director, MELTIO
By 2026, the 3D printing industry will definitely enter a phase of industrial implementation and real scaling. The main trend to watch will be the consolidation of additive manufacturing (AM) as a reliable production technology, especially in metal, where cost, repeatability, and robustness are no longer negotiable.
After years of intensive product development, qualification processes, and pilot applications, we expect 2026 to mark a turning point in which metal additive manufacturing is deployed directly within industrial production chains as a safe, sustainable, and reliable alternative to conventional manufacturing.
Industries are now more mature, familiar with AM solutions, and ready to move beyond experimentation. A new phase is beginning, defined by real-world production use cases rather than technology validation.
The key trends shaping this period include:
Consolidation of industrial metal 3D printing solutions, increasingly used for tooling, repair, and end-use parts.
Process simplification and increased automation, reducing dependence on highly specialized skills and accelerating adoption on the shop floor.
Integration of hybrid manufacturing systems, combining additive and subtractive processes within existing industrial workflows.
Localized production at the point of need, driven by supply chain resilience, particularly in defense, energy, mining, and infrastructure.
Strong growth of wire-based metal AM technologies, valued for material efficiency, lower environmental impact, and suitability for large and structural components.
Ultimately, 2026 will not be the year of “more printers,” but the year of more industrial parts produced, higher machine utilization, and clearly measurable return on investment. Additive manufacturing will increasingly be evaluated using the same KPIs as traditional manufacturing.
Kris Binon, Managing Director, AMIS
In 2026, software—not hardware—is where the biggest gains will be made. The real trend is streamlined, end‑to‑end workflows rather than generic ‘AI everywhere’. Build preparation still involves many individual preferences, so AI isn’t automatically the best answer; what matters is software that finally delivers on the promise of Industry 4.0 by reducing manual steps and lowering total cost per part. At the same time, we see a healthy rise of service bureaus that grow through real turnover rather than external capital—driving demand for workflow automation that pays for itself.
Markus May, GM, 3Faktur
I expect the 3D printing industry to see moderate growth heading into 2026, driven primarily by rising adoption in defense and aerospace applications. At the same time, industry consolidation is likely to accelerate as the market matures and customers increasingly favor scale, reliability, and integrated solutions.
Youssef Beshay, CEO, Apex Additive Technologies
2026 marks the point where metal AM—and LPBF in particular—is judged almost entirely on industrial credibility. Capex remains a constraint (unfortunately), but momentum is shifting toward productivity-led platforms that reduce post-processing and stabilise part cost, with examples such as Renishaw Tempus and Libertas. Geopolitical pressure, defence demand, and sovereignty goals are reducing appetite for ever-larger LPBF systems in favour of distributed, sovereign production cells, spanning powder manufacture through to certified end parts.
At the same time, LPBF is increasingly enabling new, AM-native products across sectors, rather than retrofitting legacy components, supported by growing acceptance of AM-specific tolerancing and qualification logic.
Finally, the long-anticipated convergence between metal AM and CNC ecosystems is accelerating—both in hardware and software—as seen with players like DN Solutions, reinforcing that LPBF’s future lies not as a standalone technology, but as a fully integrated manufacturing system.
Dave Gaylord, VP of Product and Technology, MatterHackers
We’re finally moving past the “wow factor” and into true, scalable adoption, largely because platforms like HP’s Multi Jet Fusion are proving that 3D printing is a volume manufacturing solution, delivering isotropic, end-use parts with the throughput businesses actually need to scale. At the same time, we’re seeing continued, massive success in the FFF market where the focus has shifted from tinkering to trusting; we now have reliable, high-temp machines and dialed-in material profiles that allow engineers to create great, immediately usable products right from the desktop. This dual engine—industrial powerhouses for volume production and accessible FFF workstations for agile product development—is what is driving this market expansion, and at MatterHackers, we will be focused on helping customers stay at the bleeding edge of what is possible with Digital Manufacturing.
Jose Angel Castano Rodriguez, Founder & CEO, Laboratorios 3D
In the near term, the most relevant trend to watch in additive manufacturing is a clear shift from hardware-driven growth to material- and process-driven reliability. By 2026, the market will increasingly reward solutions that deliver consistency, repeatability, and industrial trust rather than incremental machine features.
Materials will play a central role in this transition. We are seeing growing demand for application-specific formulations—adhesion systems, surface treatments, and functional materials—that reduce variability, improve first-time success rates, and lower the real cost per printed part. This is especially critical as additive manufacturing continues to move from prototyping into serial production environments.
Sarah Jordan, CEO, Skuld LLC
My predictions:
Increased investment by DoW for protecting supply chains and maintenance needs.
Increased investment from VC’s and other investors as there is a focus on reshoring/re-industrialization though likely not as much as during the SPAC craze.
Increasing focus on hybrid systems and additive process chains. Obviously, we have a dog in this fight as we delivered our first system last year and now have several additional models under development.
Continued bankruptcies, exits, and industry consolidation.
Continued increasing capabilities of low-cost Chinese systems in both extrusion and LBPBF, even as DoW bans their use. Probably unlikely they will be banned totally for import use, though tariffs will drive up the costs.
Juan Segurola, CEO, 3Dresyns by Resyner Technologies
Looking toward 2026, the most important near-term trends in 3D printing are being driven not by machines alone, but by a deep integration of advanced materials science and real, validated R&D results. At 3Dresyns, our work in 2025 has made it clear that the future of additive manufacturing is defined by functional, safe, sustainable, and application-ready resin systems — not just hardware specifications.
One major trend we’re seeing is the expansion of multifunctional photopolymer systems that go well beyond prototyping into end-use, biomedical, and specialized industrial parts. In 2025 we achieved one of the industry’s broadest custom color ranges compatible with most commercial and professional SLA, DLP, LCD, inkjet, and nano/micro printing technologies — including RAL, NCS and tooth shade variability tailored for dental, biomedical, and aesthetic applications. This flexibility is critical for production-grade additive manufacturing.
We’re also seeing innovation across functional grades, from ultra-safe monomer-free biocompatible resins to water-soluble sacrificial materials designed for injection molding, ceramic and metal processing, and debinding workflows that bridge additive and conventional manufacturing. This reflects a larger shift toward hybrid manufacturing processes that combine AM with traditional production methods.
Another key evolution is conductive and electronic-ready resin systems, which open up new opportunities in IoT, RFID, flexible PCBs, antennas, and other embedded 3D printed electronic components — a trend that transforms additive manufacturing from structural parts into smart functional devices.
Importantly, our recent R&D also confirms that biocompatible, biodegradable and eco-sustainable materials are no longer niche — they are becoming core to long-term industrial adoption. In 2025 we pushed forward eco-sustainable photochemical technology platforms with mechanical and physicochemical performance competing against conventional engineering plastics.
In summary, 2026 will be characterized by application-driven material innovations, hybrid manufacturing workflows, and truly functional resin systems that enable industries from healthcare to electronics to adopt additive manufacturing at scale — not just for prototypes, but for real products with real performance requirements.
Maxence Bourjol, Head of Sales, 3DCeram Sinto
One of the most decisive near-term trends will be the acceleration of automation and AI-driven process control, particularly to meet the expectations of industrial manufacturers and end-users. Automation is no longer optional: it is a prerequisite for achieving competitive and predictable production costs in additive manufacturing.
Closely linked to this, artificial intelligence is becoming a key enabler for real productivity gains. Beyond throughput, AI brings measurable value in process repeatability, robustness and overall reliability—critical factors for industrial adoption. These capabilities are essential to move additive manufacturing from pilot projects to stable, industrial-scale production.
At the same time, we observe a growing maturity on the demand side. Industrial players now demonstrate a clearer understanding of where additive manufacturing creates value, with more targeted applications and realistic performance expectations. This convergence between improved process control and better-defined use cases is likely to be a strong driver for industrial adoption by 2026.
Harry Wang, Executive Vice President, Uniontech
Globally, the 3D printing industry is entering a phase where growth is driven less by technical novelty and more by manufacturing readiness, cost efficiency, and scalable deployment. By 2026, success will increasingly be measured by how broadly additive manufacturing is adopted in routine industrial production rather than by isolated technology demonstrations.
Manufacturers from China are playing a decisive role in accelerating this shift. By improving manufacturing efficiency, lowering system and material costs, and shortening delivery cycles, they are reshaping total cost of ownership and reducing adoption barriers worldwide. At the same time, their rapid global localization—through local teams, service networks, and application support—is shifting competition toward real-world usability and production reliability.
By 2026, the companies that matter most will be those that make 3D printing economically practical and production-ready at scale.
Frank Roberts, CEO, 6K Additive
The landscape of metal AM is experiencing a significant surge in 2026, particularly across the military, aerospace, energy, and medical sectors. As these industries transition from prototyping to full-scale production, the focus has shifted toward operational efficiency and reducing the total cost per part.
Key Sector Trends:
Defense: We are seeing a steady rise in the production of AM-printed suppressors. Additionally, military branches are prioritizing refractory metals like C103 for hypersonic applications. This shift is coupled with a strict mandate for domestic sourcing, which is reshaping the entire supply chain.
Energy: The push for nuclear fusion has sparked intense interest in specialized materials, specifically tungsten.
Space: Demand continues to grow for high-performance nickel alloys and refractory metals essential for advanced space components.
At 6K Additive, we help organizations navigate this transition by maximizing the value of their scrap material. This circular approach allows us to act as both a supplier and a customer, fostering deep, mutually beneficial partnerships that drive down costs and improve material sustainability.
Vincenzo Belletti, Director of EU affairs, CECIMO – European Association of Manufacturing Technologies
The additive manufacturing sector needs to move decisively beyond the innovation and experimentation era and enter a phase of large-scale implementation and deployment. By 2026, the technology itself is no longer the question. The priority will be repeatable industrial use, stronger market uptake, and the multiplication of successful business cases. This will drive a clear shift toward reliability, quality assurance, productivity, automation, and integration into existing manufacturing systems, rather than isolated pilot projects. Industrial users are increasingly demanding predictable performance, certified processes, and total cost transparency. Without these, adoption will plateau.
In the near term, additive manufacturing will therefore be deployed primarily where it delivers clear and immediate value: spare parts, tooling, lightweight components, and complex high-performance parts. A stronger focus on these “winner” applications will be critical to positioning AM as a competitive, industrial production option that is fully embedded in European factories.
Ethan (Yuanming) Hu, Founder and CEO, Meshy AI
Near-term trends heading into 2026 will be driven by a clear structural shift in who can create for 3D printing. AI-native 3D creation is rapidly lowering the barrier to entry, moving the industry beyond expert-only CAD workflows. Text-to-3D and image-to-3D generation now allow non-professional users—creators, educators, and consumers—to produce usable, print-ready 3D assets. This marks a transition from engineer-led adoption toward broader, creator- and consumer-driven participation.
At the same time, full-color and multi-material 3D printing is moving closer to consumer and prosumer markets. As hardware capabilities mature and costs decline, applications are expanding beyond industrial prototyping into education, collectibles, character-driven designs, and personalized consumer products. Visual quality and creative expression are becoming central value drivers, and AI-generated 3D assets are increasingly well matched to these emerging use cases.
Finally, 3D printing workflows are becoming fundamentally software- and platform-driven. AI-assisted modeling, automated mesh repair, and print-readiness optimization are reducing manual CAD effort and compressing iteration cycles. In the next phase of adoption, intelligent software layers—not hardware alone—will define differentiation, with platforms expected to absorb complexity and make high-quality output accessible by default.
Joseph Crabtree, CEO & Founder, Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT PostPro)
Software and AI Becoming the Value Layer
As hardware margins compress and systems become increasingly interchangeable, the differentiation is shifting decisively to software, automation, and data intelligence. Companies that own the workflow—from file preparation through post-processing and quality assurance—will capture disproportionate value. We’re seeing this play out with major OEMs struggling to maintain pricing power while software-first players build recurring revenue models around process optimisation, automated quoting, and predictive maintenance. The real prize is closed-loop quality systems that use production data to continuously improve outcomes without human intervention.
Post-Processing Finally Getting Serious Attention
For years, this was treated as an afterthought, but the economics of scaling production have forced a reckoning. Manual finishing operations are now the bottleneck preventing AM from competing on unit economics with injection moulding at higher volumes. Automated depowdering, surface finishing, and inspection are moving from “nice to have” to essential infrastructure—particularly as polymer powder bed fusion and resin systems push into production applications.
Consolidation Accelerating
The capital markets reset has exposed how many companies were sustained by cheap money rather than genuine product-market fit. Expect continued M&A activity as strategic acquirers pick up distressed assets and larger players seek to fill portfolio gaps. Across the industry, there are several players whose technology is better than their commercial execution—prime targets for consolidation.
Application Maturity in Medical and Consumer
Dental and orthopaedic applications are reaching genuine scale, with established reimbursement pathways and validated workflows. Consumer goods—particularly eyewear and footwear—are transitioning from marketing gimmicks to legitimate production. These verticals will drive the bulk of polymer AM growth through 2026.
China’s Emergence as a Serious Competitor
Chinese equipment manufacturers have moved well beyond copying Western designs. They’re now shipping capable systems at 30-50% lower price points with improving reliability. This will accelerate hardware commoditisation and force Western OEMs to compete on ecosystem value rather than machine specifications.
The strategic implication is clear: companies need to move up the stack toward intelligence and automation, or they’ll find themselves in an increasingly brutal hardware price war against well-capitalised competitors.
Johannes Homa, CEO, Lithoz
We see the AM industry continuing its market clearance trend. In these more turbulent times, the serious call from potential end users and investors to our industry was about to deliver substantial solutions rather than letters of intent about what the future will bring. This call not only carried a clear message, it showed that now is the time of companies with strengthened foundations which have consistently been working on improving their processes, implementing quality management scaling their repeatability. In general, the market will recover, in the last quarter and at formnext we’ve seen that with many potential users the fear of missing out a fundamental technical advancement in ceramic 3D printing has now started to prevail the recent hesitation phase. We’ve done our homework, focusing on real-world applications to be ready to go. Now we feel perfectly prepared to meet this upward trend, facing those numerous potential customers asking challenging but very concrete questions. And this work already takes effect as in ceramic AM serial production, we are currently seeing both orders and lot numbers increasing at significant speed. We therefore are already experiencing first row the clear trend in AM industry of turning away from visionary teasing and instead turning to real-world applications.
Dr. Jason B. Jones, Co-founder & CEO, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies
In 2026 we will see design for manufacturing more routinely paired with design for inspection.
Until we provide a unified path to finished fit-for-purpose parts, we aren’t fully delivering on the promises of additive manufacturing.
Franco Cevolini, CEO and CTO, CRP Technology
Toward 2026, the most significant shift in the 3D printing industry is not about what additive manufacturing can do, but about how it is expected to perform in real industrial environments. Companies are increasingly approaching polymer AM with expectations that go well beyond prototyping, focusing on predictable performance, repeatability, and process control. These requirements are particularly strong in sectors such as aerospace, UAVs, and motorsport, where consistency is just as critical as geometric freedom.
For SLS specifically, I expect 2026 to accelerate three directions.
First, rather than focusing solely on the development of entirely new materials—which remains important in any case—the key acceleration will come from the optimization of process parameters for advanced materials and from improved machine reliability. The real value lies in extracting the maximum performance from established high-end composite thermoplastics through stable, repeatable SLS processes. This means tighter control of the printing window, higher consistency from build to build, and printers engineered for industrial robustness. When materials, process parameters, and machine reliability are treated as a single, integrated system, designers can fully leverage the material–technology combination, achieving predictable mechanical behavior, dimensional stability, and long-term functional reliability suitable for true end-use applications.
Second, there is a growing demand for functional post-processing and hybrid manufacturing approaches. Customers are looking for tighter tolerances, controlled surface finishes, reliable sealing behavior, and stable mechanical interfaces—without compromising the mechanical integrity of the printed part. This is driving a more integrated use of SLS in combination with secondary operations and finishing processes to meet real functional requirements.
Third, we are seeing the rise of application-driven design rules. The competitive advantage no longer lies in the machine alone, but in the ability to combine design for additive manufacturing, deep SLS process knowledge, and advanced material expertise.
By 2026, the most successful applications will be those where engineering requirements are translated into a validated design and manufacturing strategy, supported by test data and proven experience rather than assumptions.
Ryan Liu, CEO, FibreSeek
In the near term, we’re seeing a clear shift away from 3D printing as a prototyping-only tool toward genuine functional manufacturing—especially for load-bearing, real-world parts.
Material capability is becoming more important than raw print speed or convenience. Engineers and small manufacturers are increasingly asking not ‘how fast can it print?’ but ‘can I trust this part to replace aluminum or steel in real use?’
Another key trend is accessibility to industrial performance. Technologies that were once limited to aerospace or large enterprises—such as continuous fiber reinforcement—are starting to move into smaller workshops and professional home environments. This changes who can participate in manufacturing, not just how parts are made.
Finally, transparency and validation matter more than ever. Buyers want to see real use cases, real stress, and real failure modes—not just perfect demo parts. The next phase of additive manufacturing will be defined by credibility, not hype.
Justin Michaud, CEO, REM Surface Engineering
I think in 2026 we will see less fanfare about new machines, companies, software, etc., and a strong focus on production in the metal space. Metal AM seems to be leaving behind the hype phase and we are seeing it be treated as a manufacturing process with specific strengths and weaknesses (and this is a great thing). The more we as an industry can focus on applications where AM’s strengths can create meaningful advantages, the more the industry will grow in a sustainable way. So, in 2026, I think most of the news that we will hear will be related to companies successfully implementing AM parts in ways that are sustainable as an application.
Len Pannett, CEO, Supercharg3d Management Services Ltd
2026 will see us entering the era of industrialized digital integrity. The focus is already shifting from the physical machine to the orchestration of the “digital thread.” As 3D printing moves into critical-path production for regulated sectors like defence, aerospace, maritime and energy, data management and cybersecurity are no longer peripheral concerns: they are the primary barriers to scale. I expect a market pivot where customers demand integrated ecosystems that offer immutable part provenance, ensuring a digital design remains untampered from the OEM to a remote port-side printer.
Furthermore, standards and certification regimes will mature, moving beyond material testing into process-level validation. Driven by rigorous procurement requirements, solution providers will increasingly have to incorporate “security-by-design.” For the supply chains, this transition will be about the de-risking of distributed manufacturing. For 2026, the goal is to transform the supply chain from a vulnerable physical sequence into a resilient, verifiable digital flow where real-time sensor data is cryptographically linked to a part’s “digital birth certificate.”
Dr. Wilderich Heising, Partner & Director, Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
The additive manufacturing industry will enter 2026 as a market that is visibly “growing up”: consolidation continues, partnerships become a key innovation engine, and we will see more industrialization with Aerospace & Defense (A&D) emerging as a proof point for AM at industrial scale.
After years of hype cycles and double-digit growth, the sector is now reshaping around fewer but stronger players. The combination of higher interest rates, persistent cost pressure, and tougher capital markets will continue to push sub-scale companies out or into M&A. At the same time, growth in 3D printing is becoming more sustainable: instead of >25% hype-level expansion, we see a normalization at lower but more robust rates, backed by real manufacturing demand rather than expectations. The winners will be those that achieve true scale, invest in automation and serial readiness, and systematically develop new applications with clear, quantified value for end users.
In this environment, partnerships are no longer optional; they are the operating model of a maturing ecosystem. Initiatives such as the iAM Navigator, where leading players of the industry join forces, illustrate the direction of travel: jointly defined standards, shared qualification pathways, and integrated hardware–software–workflow solutions. These collaborations are essential to overcome fragmented efforts, accelerate application discovery, and make AM a reliable, scalable production technology on the shop floor. The focus is shifting from individual machines and materials to integrated, end-to-end solutions that make AM a credible production option on the shop floor.
Aerospace & Defense will be one of the sector that sets the tone in 2026. The A&D AM market has already scaled to a mid-single-digit billion-dollar segment and is on track to roughly double by the end of the decade, while still representing well below 2% of total A&D manufacturing spend. Engines, space launchers, and MRO/sustainment are driving this growth, with AM enabling part consolidation, weight reduction, improved durability, and dramatic lead-time reductions. Serial production of mission-critical parts proves that AM can meet aerospace-grade repeatability at volumes well beyond prototyping.
Taken together, 2026 will be less about spectacular announcements and more about disciplined industrialization. Consolidation will continue, partnerships like AM \| Navigator will shape the standards and playbooks of the industry, and A&D will demonstrate what mature, value-accretive AM adoption looks like. The central challenge will remain unchanged: systematically identifying and scaling the right applications, and clearly articulating to end users where and how AM creates tangible business value.
Andreas Hartmann, CEO/CTO, Solukon
For depowdering we see a clear trend for ultrasonic excitation among our customers. In contrast to conventional (pneumatic) vibration, ultrasonic excitation is very gentle and noiseless and allows a thorough cleaning of fragile structures like lattice structures or long, thin channels.
Solukon launched the first and only serial product with ultrasonic excitation, the E-version of our well established SFM-AT350 depowdering system more than two years ago. This system cleans medium-sized components (400 x 400 x 400 or 500 x 280 x 400) weighing up to 100 kg quietly and gently. The effectiveness of ultrasonic cleaning has now been proven on the market, and we are receiving a large number of enquiries about ultrasonic cleaning, even for larger components.
Another trend is the increased expectations placed on postprocessing providers: we see this, for example, because we are receiving more and more special requests. Full automation, robot integration, and ever larger depowdering systems are examples of requests we are receiving.
Kristin Mulherin, Director, Additive Manufacturing Technology, Hubbell
After a turbulent 2025, the additive manufacturing industry enters 2026 with a clear imperative: reset expectations and realign priorities. The focus must shift from hype and theoretical potential to delivering measurable results.
End-users, machine OEMs, and material providers alike are recognizing the need for greater investment in reliable, repeatable systems and proven materials. AI will, of course, play a growing role – not as a gimmick, but as a tool to reduce production expenses and enable industrial-scale adoption. In-process monitoring and real-time data integration will become more applicable, driving toward “first-time-right” production—a critical requirement for the high-mix, low-volume applications where 3D printing excels.
While industry consolidation remains desirable, companies are likely to prioritize internal investment and maintain tighter control over spending. Instead of rushing new product launches, we can expect a stronger focus on refining existing platforms and improving materials. OEMs increasingly recognize that enhancing capabilities delivers greater value than flooding the market with underdeveloped systems or overextending resources through external ventures.
The hope is that 2026 will not be about chasing headlines but rather about building trust through performance, consistency, and results.
Tony Lock, Director, Duet3D
Technical advances continue to propagate quickly into relatively low cost material extrusion machines. Up to this point these advances have mostly been focused on ease of use improvements however in 2026 we will start to see advances in multi tool and mixed material processes coming to the value end of the market. Advances such as the Bondtech INDX system, lower-cost continuous fibre offerings, and silicone and PnP toolheads shown by Prusa are examples. The software tool chain to support these processes is variably mature, and this will be a focus through 2026.
The other trend we see is data collection and exploitation in lower price point machines. This is well established in higher values areas of the market, however as the capability of the lower cost machines advances their use case widens and we are now at the point that robust production data will start to be a necessity for a growing number of parts produced on these machines.
Jose Camero, Founder & CBDO, Triditive
Celebrating Triditive’s 10th anniversary is a profound validation of our founding vision: that the true scalability of Additive Manufacturing relies entirely on automation. For a decade, we have navigated complex technical challenges to pioneer this shift, often before the market was ready. Today, witnessing the industry fully embrace the necessity of automated workflows—as realized in our AMCELL ecosystem—is incredibly rewarding. The hard work is paying off as we transition from potential to mass implementation, proving that the era of truly industrial, automated 3D printing has arrived.
Danit Peleg, Founder 3D Printing Fashion LAB Researcher and Designer, Danit Peleg 3D
In 2025, the most exciting thing to watch was how 3D-printed shoes stopped being a demo and started becoming a real system brands can repeat. In 2026, I believe this will expand to other wearable, fashionable items, and we’ll begin to see soft 3D-printed textiles and soft upper components.
The next step will happen first in performance components, and then extend to printing on textiles and to 3D-printed textile structures that are only possible with 3D printing. This will accelerate as hybrid products become less like a limited drop and more like a reliable product pipeline: faster cycles, consistent quality, and materials that are fashionable, comfortable, and durable to wear over time.
Andre Wegner, CEO, Authentise
2026 is when AM software finally runs the show. We’re seeing automated production loops at Nexamo and ZF that take parts from order to inspection with barely a human touch. AI will push this further by capturing engineering intent, which unlocks automated repair, planning, and qualification. And with the NDAA’s one-million-qualified-parts mandate looming, that level of automation stops being a nice-to-have. Software is what will make AM truly scalable.
Ainhoa Amaro Garcia, COO, EVOCONS (Evolution Construction System SL)
In 2025, construction is moving toward real industrialization driven by multifunctional robots such as Evoconstructor®, capable of performing multiple tasks with the same technology, including 3D printing, dosing, mixing, and assembly. This trend emerges as a response to the shortage of labor in an industry facing a housing deficit and a global challenge, as well as the need to accelerate processes, reduce costs, and shorten execution times in a context marked by volatility and sustained inflation. It also reflects a critical push for safer mechanisms in one of the least digitalized industries worldwide and with one of the highest accident rates, where automation and robotics can significantly reduce occupational risks.
Comprehensive automation is not just a technical improvement; it is a strategy to ensure productivity, resilience, and safety in the sector.
At the same time, the use of local raw materials and the reduction of logistics chains are becoming consolidated. On-site manufacturing and leveraging nearby resources are priorities to minimize costs and emissions, reduce risks associated with global volatility, and strengthen local economies. This trend aligns with sustainability and resilience policies and responds to regulatory and social pressure for more responsible construction models.
Digitalization is emerging as a key lever. Construction sites are transforming into intelligent ecosystems where live 3D models, traceability, and predictive analytics enable risk anticipation, resource optimization, and transparency. This evolution not only improves efficiency but also paves the way for Construction 5.0, which integrates AI, robotics, and machine learning to anticipate problems and optimize processes. In this framework, technology is oriented toward a human purpose: improving quality of life, reducing occupational risks, and creating opportunities for skilled employment, ensuring that innovation serves people and the planet.
Sustainability is no longer optional; it has become an unavoidable requirement. Circular processes, material reuse, and environmental certifications are being consolidated as standards to guarantee positive impact and regulatory compliance. European regulations and the Sustainable Development Goals mark a paradigm shift: building fast is no longer enough; it must be done responsibly and with full traceability.
Finally, new business models and collaborations are emerging. Public-private partnerships and cooperative schemes are positioned as strategic solutions for social housing and urban regeneration. The housing crisis and European funds are driving projects that combine speed, scalability, and sustainability, where technology acts as an enabler to meet social and economic objectives.
Read the full series:
Article One: A framework of Additive Manufacturing Institutional Filters.
Article Two: Near-term expert forecasts and 3D printing industry trends 2026.
Article Three: The End of 3D Printing and the industrialization of additive manufacturing.
Article Four: Executive Survey on Sentiment and Economic Outlook, additive manufacturing market outlook 2026.
Article Five: Fault Lines: Application of the Institutional Filters Model, additive manufacturing industry analysis.
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.
While you’re here, why not subscribe to our Youtube channel? Featuring discussion, debriefs, video shorts, and webinar replays.
