Today turns out to be the end of the year, so it is time to reflect on the past and look forward.
I don’t want to make extensive lists of happenings and predictions, as those have all been done elsewhere. Yes, plenty of things happened: machines announced, companies disappeared, investments made, and discoveries revealed.
But there was one happening that really hit me as what could be the most important development in 3D printing of 2025.
What could that be? In my opinion, it was the series of huge investments in Chinese 3D printer manufacturers by several megacorps. We saw companies like DJI, Tencent and others sink vast sums into companies like Creality, Elegoo and Bambu Lab. And where there’s some money, there may be more, and those huge companies certainly have a lot.
The effect of these investments was essentially nil in 2025, but this is really all about the future.
There are several Chinese companies that started out by producing inexpensive desktop 3D printers years ago, but now have largely taken over the market. By keeping costs low, and also incrementally adding new features and reliability, they have landed on an amazing product set at this point. Today’s “consumer” machines are often more well-featured than yesterday’s “professional” machines that cost 10-50X more.
These machines are slowly knocking competitors out of the race, one by one, both in the desktop and professional markets.
When I saw that the megacorps recognized this and poured in their cash, it became very clear they see these companies as having the potential to take over the market completely. Their investments may help those companies get there.
There’s another possible twist that may occur in the future. Just as these companies have expanded their capabilities from hobby level to professional grade equipment, it may also be possible for them to make the jump into industrial level equipment in future years. There are plenty of differences between those markets, but much of the technology is adaptable.
It could be that the major investors see this as a possibility in the future, as the manufacturing market is massively larger than both the consumer and professional markets. They could be betting on the addition of new industrial products in the future.
We can’t know that will happen, and we’ll have to wait a few years to see if that is true. However, we have already seen these companies dominate in the lower price ranges. The huge investments won’t change that, and in fact may make it even harder for anyone else to compete.
None of the Western desktop 3D printer manufacturers have seen similar investments, and there have been only a few industrial-level deals. This automatically puts Western 3D printer manufacturers at a disadvantage to the Chinese manufacturers.
What does all this mean for 2026? Here are some thoughts:
- The major Chinese desktop 3D printer manufacturers could accelerate their plans and quickly introduce even more powerful equipment
- The Chinese manufacturers may use the investment to make their machines much more user-friendly, opening up even more potential for sales
- Western desktop 3D printer manufacturers will increasingly feel competitive pressure and certainly some will disappear, others will pivot into niche markets
- USA may introduce further tariffs on 3D printers to slow down these effects
- Professional 3D printer manufacturers will increasingly focus on niche features and attempt to move into manufacturing spaces
- Industrial 3D printer manufacturers will continue doing what they are doing and not realize the potential threat posed by the major investments
I suspect that the 3D print world will look very different by the end of 2026.
