Leading industry analyst firm Additive Manufacturing Research (AM Research or AMR) has been providing market reports for the 3D printing/AM sector since 2013. It recently published the “Q1 2026 3DP/AM Market Data and Forecast” reports for the polymer AM and metal AM markets, as well as its “3DP/AM Market Insights: Q1 2026” report.
The Q1 2026 reports cover ceramic, metal, and polymer 3D printers, as well as materials and services. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the sequential total market size was $4.29 billion. According to the data, the 3D printing markets totaled $4.35 billion in the first quarter of 2026. The reports also show that there was year over year total market growth of 13.1%.
“Q1 2026 mostly continued the growth trend for AM, continuing to ride the train of global supply chain reorganization and government-backed defense and national security initiatives where the traditional means of production may not be able to provide fast enough solutions,” said Scott Dunham, AM Research Executive Vice President. “Growth is not even across the industry, but it certainly is a growth period, and the first quarter of the year continued on the momentum from the second half of last year.”
The chart below shows the AM primary market in various segments from Q1 2025 through Q1 2026. As you can see, the markets are continuing to move in an upwards trajectory.
During this same quarter last year, the metal AM market was $1.52 billion, and the polymer AM market was $2.33 billion. Now, metal AM has reached $1.76 billion, and polymer AM is $2.59 billion. In Q1 of 2025, the combined AM Services market totaled $2.07 billion, and it’s up to $2.42 billion now.
The “3DP/AM Market Insights” report for this quarter distills and analyzes the data found in the Q1 2026 market data and forecast reports, and features exclusive AM Research insight, data cuts, and commentary. The firm’s quarterly product about the 3D printing/AM market data tracks the markets by application, geography, machine class, print technology, and vendor.
AM Research looked at many industry companies for its “Core Metals” and “Core Polymers” tracking data and “3DP/AM Market Insights” report. These include 3D Systems, Stratasys, Velo3D, ATLIX, EOS, Nikon SLM Solutions, HP, Nano Dimension (Markforged and Desktop Metal), Formlabs, Carbon, Creality, Bambu Lab, Prodways, Renishaw, Optomec, Colibrium Additive, Farsoon Technologies, Eplus3D, BeAM, Bright Laser Technologies (BLT), and several others.
Both the “Core Metals” and “Core Polymers” market data offerings are built on nearly a decade of historical quarterly data. In addition, they also provide ten-year forward forecasts. Our quarterly reports on the metal and polymer AM markets, found on the AM Research website, are available as a one-time purchase, or as a subscription (quarterly updates, one-year term). You can also request a sample report.
Additionally, the quarterly “3DP/AM Market Insights: Q1 2026” report is also available to purchase as a standalone product or as a subscription. Pairing proprietary charting and graphs with a written analysis, it provides context, direction, and insight to the “Core Metals” and “Core Polymers” reports.