3D Printing Market Grew Globally in 2017

Originally written and published at contextworld.com

3D printer market clicks on all fronts in 2017

financial symbols coming from hand

During the first three quarters of 2017, both the Industrial/Professional and the Personal/Desktop sectors of the 3D printer market witnessed global unit volume growth when compared to 2016. The Personal/Desktop market continued to surge, seeing 45% more printers shipped over Q1 to Q3 2017 than in the same period of the previous year, while the Industrial/Professional market is on track to post year-on-year growth in unit volume for the first time in three years having grown by 2% through the first three quarters.

According to contextworld.com, Q3 of 2017 was particularly encouraging for the Industrial/Professional segment with 22% more printers shipped than in this period the year before, largely thanks to HP, Carbon and GE Additive. Polymer printers continue to dominate the market, accounting for 84% of Industrial/Professional machines shipped in Q3 2017, while metal printers accounted for 11%. Stratasys remained the global market leader for polymer 3D printers, followed by 3D Systems, EnvisionTEC, HP and Carbon. GE Additive remains the global leader in terms of metal 3D printer shipments, followed by EOS, SLM, TRUMPF and 3D Systems. When revenue (units x price) is normalised across all printer types, the top five vendors in Q3 were the same as in Q2 although HP increased its revenue share to move from fifth to third in the global market.