China's Metal 3D Printing Equipment Sees Robust Production and Sales, with Exports Up 76% in First Half of Year

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Industrial-grade metal 3D printing equipment is a type of large, precision machinery that uses lasers to melt metal powder and print metal industrial parts layer by layer. Its production involves dozens of precision processes, typically taking 2 to 3 months to produce a single unit. It is primarily used to print high-end metal components for the aerospace, medical, and automotive sectors.

Yuan Shuangyin, Deputy Director of the R&D Center at Suzhou XDIMETAL 3D Printing Technology Co., Ltd. in Jiangsu, stated that adding a scanning head to the original single-laser configuration can be understood as having one person working before, but now two people working, boosting overall processing efficiency by about 60%. The automatic splicing and calibration technology ensures the splicing accuracy of the dual lasers is within plus or minus 0.1 millimeters.

3D printing eliminates the need for mold making, allowing direct transition from digital models to physical parts. After importing the digital modeling drawings into the equipment and loading metal powder, the machine spreads powder layer by layer and uses laser melting and sintering according to the program, enabling the part to be formed in one piece. Currently, orders for some metal 3D printing equipment companies are already booked through the end of this year.

Li Daofen, Deputy General Manager of XDIMETAL 3D Printing Technology Co., Ltd., stated that the company's orders in the first half of this year grew approximately threefold year-on-year. Medium-sized equipment typically costs 5 million to 6 million yuan per unit, while large and ultra-large equipment generally falls in the price range of 20 million to 30 million yuan per unit.

According to estimates, the global metal 3D printing market size in 2025 is approximately $5.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%. Aerospace is the largest application field, contributing 35% of global market revenue, followed by the medical and automotive application sectors.

Zhou Xiaomeng, a machinery industry analyst at Guolian Minsheng Securities Research Institute, stated that metal 3D printing equipment will also be applied to more production fields, such as consumer electronics and humanoid robots, which pursue lightweight overall structures. The sector is expected to sustain total annual growth of over 10 percentage points.

Domestically produced industrial-grade metal 3D printing equipment is not only securing a large number of orders in the domestic market but also delivering impressive overseas export performance, thanks to advantages in cost-effectiveness, delivery lead times, and a complete supply chain.

Wu Zhen, General Manager of the East China Base of Kings 3D Group, stated that metal 3D printing exports exceeded 20 million yuan last year, and export growth in the first half of this year reached 30% year-on-year. The export model has shifted from exporting single equipment products to integrated package exports encompassing equipment, components, process software, and technical services.

A company in Suzhou, Jiangsu, has seen its overseas orders continue to climb, with some batch orders already reaching the tens of millions of yuan level. Its products cover multiple regions including the Middle East and Central Asia, with an expanding export scope. Currently, the company is accelerating its production scheduling to meet the growing demand for overseas deliveries.

Data shows that in the first half of 2026, the export value of domestic metal 3D printing equipment grew by 76% year-on-year, with the main growth contributions coming from Asia and Europe. Industry insiders stated that the independent control of key technologies, combined with China's relatively complete industrial and supply chains, has jointly driven the growth in overseas orders.

Industry insiders stated that with the increase in orders for high-end multi-laser models, the average equipment price is steadily rising, and overseas orders for metal 3D printing equipment are expected to maintain a strong growth momentum. In terms of structure, the share of exports of technologically more advanced, higher-priced products will gradually increase.

Zhou Xiaomeng stated that domestic manufacturers are advancing the construction of global operations centers, as well as overseas subsidiaries and agency networks, and their comprehensive capabilities in responding to overseas customer needs and service capabilities are continuously strengthening.