Tech Giants Rush Into 3D Printing Market Amid Industry Boom

Discussions are heating up over which tech giants are participating in, or will participate in, the 3D printing sector. VCBeat has found through foreign media reports that Apple has also been included in the list of speculated players entering the future 3D market. See the following compiled report.

Discussing the rapidly growing 3D printing industry, Terry Wohlers, President of the industry consulting and analysis firm Wohlers Associates, calmly added one name to the list of potential machine manufacturers: Apple, which came as a surprise to some.

“I’m not saying Apple has such a product; I’m merely speculating whether they might enter this industry. It’s possible,” said Wohlers. “Since Autodesk has already entered the 3D printing industry, Microsoft and Adobe are likely to follow suit. Major IT and technology companies have already moved into this sector, so we believe Apple will do the same.” “I think ‘iPrint’ would be a good name,” Wohlers added. “You’re probably hearing it for the first time here.”

In fact, as early as 2013, there were reports that Apple had filed several new patents related to 3D printing technology. Of course, we know that by early 2014, Google had already begun collaborating with 3D Systems on high-speed 3D printers.

Another established tech giant, HP, which holds a significant market share in traditional printing equipment, announced last year that it would release a 3D printer. Steve Nigro, Senior Vice President of HP’s Inkjet and Graphics Solutions business, mentioned the latest Multi Jet Fusion printer at a press event in New York last year. HP’s Multi Jet Fusion printer will become part of the company’s manufacturing production process, rather than merely serving to produce ordinary, one-off prototypes.

Overseas markets are expanding. Over the past five years, sales in the additive manufacturing industry have quadrupled, reaching $4.1 billion last year, with $2 billion of that share coming from machine and material sales, said Wohlers. The remainder came from software and services.

In 2014, shipments of desktop 3D printers (calculated based on models costing less than $5,000) reached 139,584 units, significantly exceeding the number of industrial printers (with only 12,580 units shipped in 2014).

Of course, when it comes to revenue, the situation is precisely the opposite. According to Wohlers’ report, industrial 3D printers, with each unit costing tens of thousands of dollars, generated $1.12 billion in revenue last year, while desktop 3D printers achieved only $173.3 million in revenue.

Mainstream industries, such as aerospace and biopharmaceuticals, are gradually increasing their use of 3D printers to reduce costs by enabling the on-demand manufacturing and printing of lighter components that can be fabricated directly on aircraft.

For example, in 2014, Airbus had already produced 45,000 to 60,000 3D-printed parts for its aircraft and increased its full-time staff in additive manufacturing from 20 in 2013 to 35.

“This is a proven technology, and so far, no issues have arisen,” said Waller. “They are akin to General Electric and Boeing in the United States. We believe that more than 100,000 additively manufactured parts are currently functioning well on Boeing aircraft.”

Hybrid machines, which combine CNC tools or subtractive manufacturing technologies with additive manufacturing components, are also gaining increasing popularity. The 3D printer first prints a plastic or metal surface layer, and then milling tools further refine this layer as the printing process continues. “In recent years, we have witnessed many companies announcing their 3D printing initiatives or reaching certain levels of continued development,” said Wohlers. “We are currently in an exciting period for the industry’s growth.”

(Compiled by Li Haoyue; Edited by Luo Xiaosou)