3D printing market 'worth $4.8bn by 2018'
Oct 29, 2014
The 3D printing market is set to grow from $1.15 billion in 2013 to $4.8 billion in 2018, according to analysts, as consumer demand fuels use within the home.
The 3D printing market is set to grow from $1.15 billion in 2013 to $4.8 billion in 2018, according to analysts, as consumer demand fuels use within the home.Currently generally confined to use within the automotive, airspace and healthcare industries, increased levels of 3D printing adoption within the home and small business space is set to drive total unit sales from 81,000 in 2013 to almost 850,000 in 2018, according to CCS Insight.
The report predicted sales to reach 158,000 devices by the end of the year, an increase of 93 per cent from 2013. Business desktop and consumer 3D printer sales will more than double through the year, and will account for nine out of ten 3D systems sold in 2014, it estimated.
Arnaud Gagneux, vice president of Technology Transformation at CCS Insight, said consumers will only be persuaded to purchase 3D printers once they see a clear use for them.
"The consumer and desktop 3D printer market is still in its infancy and we expect many positive disruptions in coming years," he said. "As major consumer brands enter the space and as 3D printers are more heavily marketed and available in more places, awareness will grow.
"We expect more and more smartphones, tablets and PCs to come with 3D scanning abilities. This will make 3D printers more attractive by simplifying the process of rendering something you want to print and overcoming the need for extensive libraries of blueprints."
North America is presently the largest market for 3D printers and will remain so for the next four years, will adoption in European and Asian markets will be slower due to less-developed distribution, the report found.
Last week a Japanese man became the first person to receive a prison sentence for designing and printing a 3D gun.
Yoshitomo Imura, 28, downloaded and printed five plastic guns, two of which could fire real bullets. He has been given a two-year sentence for creating a deadly firearm by the Yokohama District Court in Japan, a country with extremely strict gun laws.
Source: Telegraph