According to Taiwan's MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), an ICT industry research institute based in Taipei, 3D printer market value in 2012 arrived at about US$2.15 billion, up 22.2% year-on-year. By 2016, the market value is estimated to grow to about US$4.45 billion, with a 20.4% CAGR. The overall 3D printer development is promising, including entry-level 3D printers that are often priced below US$5,000. Those entry-level 3D printers posted a sales volume of 5,900 units in 2010 and jumped up to 35,000 units in 2012, witnessing a nearly six-fold growth within two years.?

Looking at global 3D printers by applications, it is found that 3D printers are mainly used in consumer goods (29%), followed by automotive (19%), medicine (13%), education (10%) and aerospace (8%) and industrial engineering (7%). Different applications of various 3D printers can be categorized into three areas: production and manufacturing, specific use, and office use.

MIC's industry consultant, Tony Wu, declared that those low-priced 3D printers are often for office use and are mostly favored by 3D printer fanatic. As for major application coverage, 3D printers in this category are designed for initial modeling. With growing sales of 3D printers, materials, low-priced 3D printer and printing services that could construct, edit and print anything from 3D database are the areas deserved further observation. Wu said that amid the growing sales of high-end 3D printers, 3D object editing software and 3D printing service are expected to be where 3D printer application services are heading to. 3D object editing software is expected to have tendencies toward bipolarization. Aside from entry-level software, the high-end software will be mainly used to support professional production and manufacturing and are suitable for use in medicine, military, aerospace, engineering, and education. Meanwhile, 3D services that a 3D printer can deliver including modeling, editing, printing, and scanning.

Wu further stated that there is a growing trend of providing entry-level 3D editing software for free. In the future, there may have a large number of free entry-level 3D editing software for users to download, with application coverage targeting mainly at consumer goods. Following market opportunities generated from the free access to applications and massive production, it is 3D printing services' turn for a boom" "Thus far, Taiwan has 15 to 20 companies that have devoted themselves to the services." Wu said.

Looking ahead to the next two to three years of 3D printing development, as low-priced 3D printing model becoming popular, it is expected that printer vendors will launch 3D printers that are capable of building objects out of metals, ceramics, resins, plastics, nylon, ABS plastic and wax to cater to demand of officers and 3D printer fanatics. The growing number of free software and the high convenience of internet access are expected to continue ramping up market demand for 3D printers.?

Low-priced 3D printers feature high diversity in small quantities and rapid printing speed. "Low-priced 3D printers are expected to be differentiated from mainstream 3D printer technology that is often used in mass production," Wu said. Low-priced 3D printers can help build objects based on personal ideas to ensure their uniqueness. This not only can help shorten the development cycle of 3D goods but also trial test the market acceptance of specific 3D products before mass producing them. The 3D printer technology is expected to encourage 3D factories to materialize their innovations and new applications are likely to create new market opportunities.

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About MIC

Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), based in Taipei, Taiwan, was founded in 1987. MIC is Taiwan's premier IT industry research and consulting firm providing intelligence, in-depth analysis, and strategic consulting services on global IT product and technology trends, focusing on markets and industries in Asia-Pacific. MIC is part of the Institute for Information Industry. https://mic.iii.org.tw/english