Forecast: 3D Printers, Worldwide, 2013

A report from Gartner from Pete Basiliere, Zalak Shah, Yulan Li

Consumer and enterprise 3D printer shipments are growing at 95.4% and revenue at 81.9% from 2012 through 2017. The 3D printer market will grow from $288 million to more than $5.7 billion by 2017 as consumer 3D printing hype accelerates 3D printer purchases by enterprises worldwide.

Key Findings

The total number of consumer and enterprise 3D printer shipments will grow from 38,002 units in 2012 to 1,083,496 units in 2017, a compound annual growth rate of 95.4%. The end users in these markets will increase spending on 3D printers from almost US$288 million to more than US$5.7 billion during the same period, an 81.9% CAGR.
While historically the North American and Western European regions have dominated the market, Greater China’s 98.8% CAGR will outstrip them by up to six points through 2017. Emerging markets will grow from 72.5% (Sub-Saharan Africa) to 83.5% (Latin America).
Seven technologies comprise the 3D printer market, with material extrusion leading the market’s growth through 2017 due to significant consumer adoption.
Consumer 3D printer market shipments will outpace the enterprise 3D printer market throughout the forecast period while enterprise market revenue is stronger than consumer market revenue due to the growing sales of higher-priced devices.
The primary consumer 3D printer market drivers are lower prices, improved performance and expanded availability. The primary enterprise 3D printer market drivers are increased awareness of the viability of 3D printing technologies for prototyping and manufacturing coupled with lower costs, improved quality and a wider range of materials.

Forecast Data

The 3D printer (3DP) market for devices costing less than US$100,000 has reached the tipping point where we project that on average shipments will nearly double every year through 2017 and actually more than double year over year beginning in 2016. While still a nascent market, with hype outpacing the technical realities, the speed of development and rise in buyer interest are pressing hardware, software and service providers to offer easier to use tools and materials that produce consistently high-quality results.

As the products rapidly mature, organizations will increasingly exploit 3D printing’s potential in their laboratory, product development and manufacturing operations. In the next 18 months, we foresee consumers moving from being curious about the technology to finding reasons to justify purchases, including price points, applications and functionality becoming more attractive. As a result, the 3D printer market will have a near doubling of unit shipments year over year starting in 2014 and continuing through 2016, after which the shipments will more than double. The result is a 95.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the number of printers sold through 2017 (see Figure 1 and Figure 2).