Taiwanese Companies Set Sights on 3D Printer Boom

Taiwanese companies are stepping up development of 3D printers to tap the huge growth potential in the fast-rising market.

3D printing is an additive manufacturing technology that was first developed in the late 1980s. Today, 3D printing is finding applications as diverse as gun manufacturing to the production of apparel, artificial skulls, bicycle and auto parts, and footwear. It is the lower production costs achievable with the technology that could potentially change the ways things are produced in both traditional and high-tech manufacturing industries.

Global Industry Revolution Driver

In his State of the Union address early this year, U.S. President Barack Obama said that 3D printing has the potential to revolutionize the way people make almost everything today and will help create more manufacturing jobs to secure U.S. economy sustainable growth in the future.

While there may be some hype over the revolutionizing effects of 3D printing, the market for 3D printers is growing faster than many expected. According to Gartner Inc., a British market research institute, enterprise and consumer demand for 3D printer models priced at below US$100,000 per unit is estimated to grow by 49% to 56,507 units this year, gain another 75% in 2014, and then double in 2015.

Gartner says that the global 3D printer market is entering a fast growth phase as the technology improves. Advancements in supporting software, hardware and services have also made the technology easier to apply in production.

The research institute predicts that global spending on 3D printers will surge by 43% yearly to US$412 million this year, with corporate demand accounting for over US$325 million of the total and consumers for the remainder. The market is expected to shoot up by another 62% to US$669 million in 2014.

Applications to Widen

Presently, 3D printing is mostly applied in manufacturing activities with small quantities, such as product designing, prototyping, and custom manufacturing. As the technology improves, the applications of 3D printing are extending into new areas, including construction, industrial production, defense, medical instruments and jewelry.

Gartner foresees that 3D printing will be applied in making not just consumer products, but also precision technical parts. This could have a huge impact on industrial development. NASA, for example, has used 3D printers to produce rocket engine parts and plans to send one to the space in 2014 for astronauts to make food in space stations.

As competition heats up in the 3D printer market, such devices are expected to get better and cheaper in the coming years, noted Gartner. The market researcher is especially optimistic about the consumer segment of the market, saying that 3D printers could become mass market items at both brick-and-mortal and online stores.

Interested Taiwanese Makers

In Taiwan, a few companies have been developing 3D printers, with aims to have products available within the next few years.

Among the lead companies in the domestic sector is New Kinpo Group, a conglomerate specializing in the manufacture of electronic parts and devices. A reinvested company of the group has just released the XYZprinting da VincI 1.0, and will begin promoting its 3D printer in the U.S., Japan and Europe early next year with the aim to achieve global sales of 100,000 units to outpace the global leader, Makerbot. The reinvested company will unveil four more new models next year, including one with two print heads and a touchscreen interface at a unit price of NT$20,000-30,000.

Inventec Corp., one of world's largest laptop original design manufacturers by shipment, also recently announced its entry into the market for 3D printers.