“3D Printing has captured the imagination of many, with the possibility of starting a manufacturing revolution,” says Adrienne Downey, Semico’s director of technology research. “New applications and materials are announced on a very frequent basis. 3D printing is being used in many more applications than most people realise. But the most exciting applications for 3D printing are the ones that haven’t even been conceived of yet.”
The 3D printing market got a shot in the arm as HP began taking orders for its HP Jet Fusion 3D printer. HP claims its printer is faster than existing 3D printers and more cost-effective. Using a proprietary technology, the printer is targeted at industrial customers for mass production. The HP Jet Fusion currently only prints in nylon (but will accommodate other materials in the future), and involves post-processing of printed items, requiring another purchase in addition to the printer itself.
The report notes that the top two 3D printer players alone accounted for almost US$1.4 billion dollars in revenue in 2015. As the installed base grows larger, materials is expected to make up a larger portion of the total market revenue, reaching 38 percent by 2021. In terms of printer unit volumes, this is expected to surpass 3.5 million units by 2021.
The report from Semico, a semiconductor marketing & consulting research company headquartered in the US, is entitled ‘3D Printing: The Next Industrial Revolution 2016 Update’ provides five-year revenue and unit forecasts for the total 3D printing market.
APMEN News, Oct 2016
