Boom time for 3D printing

Canalys issues most bullish set of predictions for market yet, forecasting sales of £20bn by 2019

The market for 3D printing is set to sextuple over the next five years as the enterprise and consumer segments advance at a rapid rate and products using vat-polymerisation technology rapidly come to the fore.

That is according to Canalys, which predicts the global market for 3D printers and associated materials and services will bulge from $3.3bn (£2.2bn) in 2014 to $5.2bn this year, before swelling to $20.2bn by 2019.

That equates to a compound annual growth rate of 44 per cent between 2014 and 2019.

3D printers that draw on material extrusion – where a semi-liquid material is deposited from a print head – currently rule the roost, Canalys said.

But thanks to many expired or expiring patents, vat polymerisation – a technology based on the selective solidification of a tank of liquid – is "fast becoming a major growth sector in both the enterprise and consumer space", the research house added.

The aerospace, automotive and medical sectors will continue to be the major revenue drivers in the enterprise market, but the consumer sector will "advance at a similarly rapid pace" as more models hit the $500 sweet spot for impulse buys, Canalys research analyst, Joe Kempton, said.

"In the next five years, more companies will move in to establish their own niches, as 3D printing begins to permeate across more sectors," Kempton said.

"Long-existing vendors such as Stratasys and 3D Systems are well placed to take advantage of this growth but may find their dominant positions challenged by newer rivals."

Not all analysts are as bullish on the 3D printing market's prospects, however, with CCS Insight recently predicting it will be worth a much more modest $4.8bn by 2018. Gartner reckons the market will grow to $13.4bn over the same time period.