In past couple of years leading analytical companies led by Gartner, announced the arrival of a great triumph of additive technologies. According to their forecasts and predictions, by 2020 several million 3D printers were to be sold annually, and the driving force was to be consumer devices standing in virtually every home. As we know, things went completely different… 3D printing remained what it was from the beginning – an industrial technology that earns its place among other manufacturing techniques. This does not mean, however, that the increase in the value of the 3D printing market has stopped – it is simply developing in a completely different way and with different dynamics than was previously forecast.
For several years, SmarTech Analysis has been one of the most responsible and predictable in its forecasts. The company specializes in predicting the development of the market situation in the field of 3D printing, focusing primarily on its selected sectors and only on the basis of these partial data is attempted at more comprehensive predictions. In its latest report, the company estimated the current value of the entire 3D printing market at USD 10.4 billion and predicts that this value will rise to USD 53.8 billion over the next decade.
As was the case in the recent report on the automotive sector, the above estimates do not apply to rapid prototyping at all, where revenues will be calculated additionally. Taking this into account, the value of the 3D printing market will constitute about 2% of the value of the entire manufacturing industry in the world. According to SmarTech, in order to achieve this result around 2025 there must be a significant break in the area of purchasing decisions of industrial companies – in other words, they will have to buy and order many more solutions from the additive sector than at present.
Interestingly, the company indicates that the largest market value will be generated by services with a 40 ~ 50% share depending on the period presented. If these estimates turn out to be likely, everything indicates that we will have an intense five years, during which we can observe a threefold increase in the value of all components of the 3D printing market.
Source: www.3dprintingmedia.network