The additive manufacturing market has seen a continuous year-over-year growth for the third quarter of 2022, marking the fourth consecutive quarter that the entire AM industry saw revenue exceeding $3 billion.
This marks a 20 per cent hike compared to the same period in 2021 despite a rising number of entities reporting a challenging macroeconomic environment and changing customer behaviour, according to a report from SmarTech Analysis.
Market totals include hardware, materials, software, and services.
According to the report, the 3D printing/additive manufacturing market continues to grow steadily, excluding the growth slump at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
In times of global market uncertainty, additive manufacturing represents an insulated pocket in business activity, the report further detailed.
Meanwhile, issues in the supply chain have continued to affect revenue performance across industries and markets, in turn creating demand for additive manufacturing.
The services index represents the largest portion of the entire 3DP/AM market. Materials and hardware are currently similar in size, while software is the smallest but fastest-growing segment.
“With the reported conditions in the market, the sequential growth in additive once again declined slightly on a quarter-over-quarter basis, but still Q3 2022 saw the largest industry activity level for a third quarter in history,” said Scott Dunham, SmarTech Analysis executive vice president for research.
“We are being cautious about our outlook for AM going forward, but we are still seeing plenty of demand out there for additive technologies. It varies company to company and market to market, but on the whole SmarTech is still optimistic about the AM industry’s potential heading into 2023.”
Companies covered in the report included 3D Systems, HP, EOS, Farsoon, Prodways, Velo3D, SLM Solutions, Optomec, Trumpf, Markforged, Desktop Metal, GE Additive and ExOne.
