Market intelligence agency CONTEXT has printed its newest report revealing weak efficiency throughout all 3D printer segments in This autumn 2024.
As reported by the market intelligence agency, distributors struggled to take care of momentum as broader financial pressures took maintain. Inflation remained stubbornly excessive, rates of interest stayed elevated, and worries about international M&A uncertainty, tariff disputes, and recession dangers continued to weigh on capital spending.
In This autumn 2024, shipments dropped throughout the board. Industrial printers priced above $100,000 fell 6% in comparison with This autumn 2023. Midrange printers, starting from $20,000 to $100,000, noticed a sharper 18% decline. Skilled programs priced between $2,500 and $20,000 dropped 11%, and even Entry-level 3D printers, beforehand a progress engine, noticed shipments slide 10% Y/Y.
From a full-year (FY) perspective, the Entry-level phase was the one one to develop. Shipments of printers underneath $2,500 rose 26% because of manufacturers like Bambu Lab and the “continued power” of Creality. However that progress additionally cannibalized the Skilled market, which completed 2024 down 15%. Midrange shipments fell 11%, whereas Industrial programs dropped 17% in comparison with FY 2023.
As Chris Connery, VP of worldwide evaluation at CONTEXT, put it, “2024 was a tricky 12 months throughout the globe for a lot of 3D printer system distributors, marked by macroeconomic pressures and a shifting aggressive panorama. However beneath the floor, there’s a transparent sense of continued sturdy bottled-up demand that might reshape the trade in 2025 and past.”
Industrial programs stall, with metals hitting hardest
Industrial 3D printer shipments, priced above $100,000, fell 6% in This autumn 2024, with metallic programs performing particularly poorly in markets like China. Though polymer programs confirmed indicators of life late within the 12 months, it wasn’t sufficient to counter the decline. For FY 2024, Industrial shipments dropped 17%, together with a 21% fall in polymer and 11% in metallic programs.
Zooming in on This autumn, polymer programs truly noticed a modest rebound. Shipments rose 10% Y/Y, pushed primarily by a 23% enhance in vat photopolymerisation machines. China led that resurgence, with shipments into the area leaping 53%, most of which got here from UnionTech.
The nation accounted for 34% of worldwide shipments, overtaking North America, which got here in at 29% however noticed a 14% drop in unit volumes. Nonetheless, when trying on the full 12 months, each subcategory of polymer programs declined: vat photopolymerisation down 30%, polymer powder mattress fusion (PBF) down 6%, materials extrusion down 16%, and materials jetting down 10%.
Within the metallic house, PBF programs continued to dominate, making up 71% of Industrial metallic printer shipments in This autumn, however the class nonetheless noticed a 20% Y/Y decline. Nonetheless, Directed Vitality Deposition (DED) programs grew by 15% within the quarter, largely because of Meltio’s entry-level pricing technique.
Curiously, BLT managed to regain its place as the highest international vendor for metallic PBF printers, regardless that its personal shipments have been down 11%. In actual fact, all the high 5 distributors have been based mostly in China. Nevertheless it wasn’t simply Chinese language producers feeling the squeeze, Western corporations noticed a 22% drop in metallic PBF shipments in This autumn, whereas Chinese language distributors posted a 20% decline.
Steel revenues maintain steadier regardless of falling shipments
Whereas cargo volumes painted a grim image, revenues within the Industrial metallic phase advised a barely totally different story. In This autumn 2024, international income from metallic PBF programs declined simply 10% Y/Y. Western distributors weathered the storm higher than most. EOS posted sturdy outcomes, and Nikon SLM Options reclaimed the highest spot in international income rankings for metallic PBF machines.
For the total 12 months, DED was the one subcategory that managed to develop, with shipments up 7%. Different classes declined throughout the board: PBF down 12%, materials extrusion down 29%, materials jetting down 18%, and binder jetting down 17%. Solely 4 distributors shipped extra Industrial metallic printers in 2024 than in 2023, Meltio, ZRapid Tech, Eplus3D, and TRUMPF, the latter solely barely.
General system revenues dropped 11%, however there have been notable exceptions. Nikon SLM Options noticed a 29% income enhance, and Eplus3D posted an excellent stronger 40% acquire, largely pushed by demand for large-format, multi-laser programs.
Midrange 3D printers see steepest quarterly drop
Midrange programs, priced between $20,000 and $100,000, suffered the sharpest decline of any phase in This autumn 2024, with shipments falling 18% Y/Y. That mentioned, not each know-how inside the class struggled. Materials jetting programs grew 25%, climbing to the highest of the Midrange tech stack.
Flashforge performed an enormous function right here, doubling its shipments in comparison with This autumn 2023 with its wax-based jetting answer geared towards the jewelry sector. Stratasys additionally noticed beneficial properties, notably in polymer programs focusing on the dental market.
Nonetheless, these wins couldn’t save the full-year numbers. Shipments of Midrange printers fell 11% in 2024, as eight of the highest ten distributors posted decrease volumes than the 12 months earlier than. Business mainstays like Stratasys, 3D Techniques, Formlabs, and Markforged all certainly noticed declines. Nexa3D exited the phase totally. In contrast, Chinese language distributors carried out extra strongly. Flashforge grew shipments by 123%, and ZRapid Tech posted an 11% enhance.
Geographically, China overtook North America to change into the highest marketplace for Midrange programs. Shipments to China rose 5% in 2024, whereas these to North America fell 22%. The regional shift highlights the rising significance of home Chinese language demand, whilst international situations remained uneven.
Skilled market splits alongside know-how traces
Skilled printers, usually priced between $2,500 and $20,000, ended 2024 with combined outcomes relying on the know-how. In This autumn, general shipments dropped 11% Y/Y. However a deeper look reveals that materials extrusion programs, largely Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), fell sharply, down 40%, whereas vat photopolymerisation programs grew 18%.
The divide was much more obvious throughout the total 12 months, as Skilled materials extrusion printer shipments fell 37% in 2024, with distributors like Raise3D and UltiMaker dropping floor to entry-level gamers equivalent to Bambu Lab. In the meantime, vat photopolymerisation manufacturers shifted from laser and DLP programs to masked stereolithography.
This shift paid off. Formlabs and SprintRay posted sturdy leads to This autumn and helped swing the market break up in favor of vat photopolymerisation. What had been an excellent 50-50 break up with materials extrusion programs a 12 months in the past shifted to a 67-33 benefit for vat photopolymerisation by the top of 2024. Formlabs, specifically, shipped 29% extra items, contributing to a 13% Y/Y enhance in international vat photopolymerisation shipments.
Entry-level progress cools after sturdy begin
Entry-level 3D printers, these underneath $2,500, have been the one phase to publish annual progress, with shipments rising 26% in FY 2024. However that success was largely concentrated within the first half of the 12 months. By This autumn, the phase misplaced steam, with shipments down 10% in comparison with This autumn 2023 and slightly below 1,000,000 items shipped.
Creality maintained its lead within the class with a 40% market share, although This autumn shipments fell 25%. Bambu Lab, regardless of some late-year PR challenges, noticed shipments rise 76%, capturing 20% of the market. Rising as a “vivid spot,” Flashforge additionally had a powerful shut, rising This autumn shipments by 77% because it continued evolving its product line.
Notably, 96% of all entry-level printers bought globally in 2024 got here from Chinese language distributors. A couple of smaller corporations examined the concept of transferring manufacturing to the US to hedge in opposition to potential tariffs, however the economics didn’t work of their favor. For now, manufacturing low-cost machines in high-wage areas stays a tricky proposition.
Outlook: A delayed rebound, not a derailed one
Even with a tough This autumn behind them, trade gamers aren’t writing off 2025. The 12 months has already introduced a number of milestones. EOS shipped its 5,000th 3D printer. Eplus3D reached its a hundredth super-meter metallic PBF unit. Xact Steel handed 150 programs shipped. Nikon SLM Options hit 1,000 items, together with 50 of its NXG large-format, multi-laser platforms.
The funding panorama additionally confirmed indicators of life. Stratasys secured $120 million. Velo3D introduced in new funding. And Desktop Steel’s acquisition by Nano Dimension lastly closed, with Markforged presumably subsequent in line. All of those strikes counsel that the trade is gearing up for a return to profitability, and possibly even a resurgence in capital spending as soon as macroeconomic situations ease.
On the excessive finish, demand is anticipated to develop from international onshoring, with capital spending set to speed up as soon as rates of interest decline, mentioned Connery. “The timing of such rate of interest drops is the good unknown, and the state of affairs is additional difficult by sticky inflation, tariff wars and M&A questions, particularly within the US.”
Because it stands, expectations for 2025 have been adjusted downward. CONTEXT forecasts flat to single-digit cargo progress this 12 months, with mid-double-digit beneficial properties doubtless in 2026 and momentum selecting up after that.
In the meantime, M&A will as soon as once more make the information, with the trade watching intently for brand spanking new product classes that might shake issues up, together with a attainable low-cost approx. $3,100 full-color materials jetting 3D printer. If it materialises, it would blur the traces between Skilled and Midrange pricing, and assist the sector flip the web page.
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Featured picture exhibits Yearly International Industrial and Midrange 3D printer shipments (notice totally different scales). Picture through CONTEXT.
