Summary

The first commercial 3D printer was invented in 1988. In 2013, the 3D printing industry was worth $3bn, and grew to $7bn in 2017. By 2025 the 3D printing market will account for over $20bn in spend.3D printing, or “additive manufacturing”, is the process of joining materials to make objects from three-dimensional model data, usually layer upon layer. The 3D printing market blends software technology with materials science and the growth in interest in 3D printing technology is fuelling a significant amount of R&D investment in the core technologies that make up 3D printing solutions.

3D printers are best suited for certain tasks: they are good for small production runs where customised products and short development cycles are the norm; they are suited for small items because there are limits to the size of affordable 3D printers; they are suited to high-value products, because they make it easier for the developer to retain manufacturing in-house; and they are also suited to products with high complexity, because the creation of complex geometric features is difficult to achieve using traditional machining methods but relatively easy with 3D printing.

3D printing is now widely used in prototyping across a number of sectors where it can significantly lower the cost of development. 3D printing is also seeing strong traction in aerospace, by dramatically changing the economics associated with the one-off manufacture of precision components.3D printing is currently being explored in new contexts as well, most notably in construction and medicine.There are four primary applications for additive manufacturing systems; Rapid prototyping, Tooling,Direct part manufacturing and Maintenance & Repair.

The report "3D Printing - Thematic Research", offers a framework in which to look at 3D Printing, summarizes the important trends, and identifies the key players.The report also helps in identifying winners and losers based on technology leadership, market position and other factors.

Companies Mentioned: 3D Systems, Stratasys, Renishaw, GE Additive, HP Inc, Proto Labs, Organovo, ExOne, Voxeljet, Groupe Gorge, Beijing Tiertime, Blueprinter, Concept Laser, EnvisionTEC, EOS, Mcor Technologies, Nanoscribe, Optomec

Scope

This report is part of our ecosystem of thematic investment research reports, supported by our “thematic engine”. About our Thematic Research Ecosystem -
- GlobalData has developed a unique thematic methodology for valuing technology, media and telecom companies based on their relative strength in the big investment themes that are impacting their industry. Whilst most investment research is underpinned by backwards looking company valuation models, GlobalData’s thematic methodology identifies which companies are best placed to succeed in a future filled with multiple disruptive threats. To do this, GlobalData tracks the performance of the top 600 technology, media and telecom stocks against the 50 most important themes driving their earnings, generating 30,000 thematic scores. The algorithms in GlobalData’s “thematic engine” help to clearly identify the winners and losers within the TMT sector. Our 600 TMT stocks are categorised into 18 sectors. Each sector scorecard has a thematic screen, a risk screen and a valuation screen. Our thematic research ecosystem has a three-tiered reporting structure: single theme, multi-theme and sector scorecard. This report is a Multi-Theme report, covering all stocks, all sectors and all themes, giving readers a strong sense of how everything fits together and how conflicting themes might interact with one another.

Reasons to buy

- Our thematic investment research product, supported by our thematic engine, is aimed at senior (C-Suite) executives in the corporate world as well as institutional investors.
- Corporations: Helps CEOs in all industries understand the disruptive threats to their competitive landscape
- Investors: Helps fund managers focus their time on the most interesting investment opportunities in global TMT.
- Our unique differentiator, compared to all our rival thematic research houses, is that our thematic engine has a proven track record of predicting winners and losers.

Companies Mentioned

3D Systems
Stratasys
Renishaw
GE Additive
HP Inc
Proto Labs
Organovo
ExOne
Voxeljet
Groupe Gorge
Beijing Tiertime
Blueprinter
Concept Laser
EnvisionTEC
EOS
Mcor Technologies
Nanoscribe
Optomec