3D Printing Equipment Surges 60.7% in April, Outpacing Industrial Robots and New Energy Vehicles

Panda3dp.com Guide: Recently, 3D printing equipment has once again featured in reports from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, with a remarkable year-on-year production growth rate of 60.7%, surpassing industrial robots and new energy vehicles. Since entering the 3D printing industry at the end of 2012, Panda3dp.com has gradually come to experience the feeling of "emerging from the clouds to behold the moon" in recent years.

On May 24, 2025, Panda3dp.com noted that the National Bureau of Statistics had just released economic data for April. Among them, it stated: “By product category, the year-on-year production growth rates for 3D printing equipment, industrial robots, and new energy vehicles were 60.7%, 51.5%, and 38.9% respectively.”

These figures not only underscore the robust growth of China’s high-end manufacturing sector, but also highlight the vigorous momentum of the 3D printing industry as a driving force of emerging productive capacities.

Frequent Appearances on Growth Leaderboards

Reviewing past years' data published by the National Bureau of Statistics, Panda3dp.com observed that 3D printing equipment has consistently ranked among the top growth performers, having been mentioned no fewer than ten times. A selection of these production figures includes:

* Q1 2025: 44.9% year-on-year growth

* Jan–Feb 2025: 30.2% year-on-year growth

* July 2024: 25.3% year-on-year growth

* H1 2024: 51.6% year-on-year growth

* May 2024: 36.3% year-on-year growth

* Q1 2024: 40.6% year-on-year growth

* Jan–Feb 2024: 49.5% year-on-year growth

* 2023: 2.789 million units produced, 36.2% growth

* April 2020: 344.7% year-on-year growth

* March 2020: 112.8% year-on-year growth

Since the beginning of 2025, 3D printing equipment has continued its rapid ascent, becoming a flagship of the emerging productivity paradigm. In April, it even led all product categories in production growth.

From Obscurity to a Pillar of Emerging Productivity

3D printing—also known as additive manufacturing—is a technique that fabricates solid parts by adding material layer by layer based on a digital 3D model.

Fifteen years ago, this technology was largely overlooked, with China possessing limited technical strength and the market dominated by Western enterprises.

Today, Chinese 3D printing companies have risen to prominence. Core components, machines, materials, and software have all achieved significant breakthroughs, steadily increasing China’s global influence in the field. At the same time, the cost of adopting 3D printing has plummeted by more than 90%, making it increasingly accessible. Now, it is common to see and purchase products manufactured using 3D printing technology.

△A mobile street vendor selling Dragon Boat Festival sachets also displays a full cart of 3D-printed toys for sale.*

In terms of application, 3D printing excels in scenarios requiring flexible design and low production volume, making it ideal for complex, small-batch manufacturing. It has steadily penetrated sectors including aerospace, automotive, tooling, healthcare, dentistry, electronics, casting, and the arts. In these fields, 3D printing enables small- to medium-scale part production while significantly reducing costs.

Looking ahead, in the biomedical sector, 3D printing may even achieve organ fabrication. With the advancement of bioprinting, the dream of extending human life to 120 years may not be far off.

△Academician Yang Huayong presents a 3D bioprinter on the CCTV program “Voice.” He noted that if the technology matures, human life expectancy could surpass 120 years.*

A Trillion-CNY Market No Longer Out of Reach

According to a report by China Commercial Industry Research Institute, China’s 3D printing market is projected to exceed 63 billion CNY by 2025—a 30-fold increase over the past decade. In March 2024, the Shaanxi provincial government issued the *Action Plan for Fostering a Trillion-CNY Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster*, aiming for annual industrial output to reach 100 billion CNY by 2035.

Additionally, data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in 2024, China exported 3.778 million 3D printers (excluding components), with a total export value of 8.16 billion CNY. In Q1 2025 alone, domestic 3D printer exports reached 965,000 units, with nearly 2 billion CNY in total export value.

In summary, despite facing certain challenges, China’s 3D printing industry has grown from a niche field into a major industry. With continuous technological innovation, expanding applications, increasing market demand, and supportive government policies, 3D printing is poised to play an even greater role in advancing industrial transformation and cultivating new productive forces.