Industrial 3D Printer Shipments Suffer While Desktop Continues to Soar

It is no secret that financial markets the world over had a challenging year last year. Inflation and high interest rates have sparked fears for a recession, as even the International Monetary Fund noted that policies must be implemented to prevent a crash. This is equally the case for 3D printing, though it seems it has hit certain parts of the market harder than others. Indeed, a new report from CONTEXT has shown that industrial 3D printer shipments have significantly slowed, however entry-level printer sales continue to boom, showing potentially where we could continue to see growth in 2024.

2023 was undoubtedly a challenging year in the additive manufacturing world. A slew of failed mergers, mediocre earnings and stock market woes caused concern, though many of these have been seemingly overstated, with many expecting the market to bounce back this year. That being said, this report has shown that, especially in the realm of industrial 3D printers, there is some at least some basis for concern as it may be time to adapt to the market’s needs.

A Decline in Industrial 3D Printer Shipments

First, it’s important to note the different categories of printers included in this latest report and how they are classified. CONTEXT identifies four separate groups: industrial ($100K+ 3D printers), midrange ($20,000–100,000), professional ($2,500–20,000) and entry-level (3D printers under $2,500). In the report, these were then tracked by sales in order to determine year on year (YoY) growth.