The report “DED and Large-Format Additive Manufacturing Markets: 2021-2030” from SmarTech Analysis identifies and quantifies the opportunities presented by Directed Energy Deposition (DED), Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) and other large-format metal additive technologies. It pegs revenues from these and related areas as reaching US $537 million in 2026.
Coverage includes large-format PFB and semi-proprietary large-format machines such as EBAM and Titomic Kinetic Fusion systems. The markets for large-format machines in each of the major end user industries is also analyzed including aerospace, automotive, medical, oil & gas, energy, general industry and tooling, and service bureaus.
A major part of this report consists of a ten-year forecast of large-format machines and related materials with breakouts by types of process, materials used, service bureau vs. in-house, wire vs. powder, hybrid vs. pure AM and customer geography. This report includes profiles of the market strategies of more than 30 companies active in the DED/large-format space. Companies profiled include: AML3D, ADDere, Additec, BeAM/AddUp, DM3D, DMG MORI, ELB-Schliff, Evobeam, Farsoon, Formalloy, Gefertec, Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies, InnsTek, DMT Machines, Laser Cladding Venture, Lincoln Electric, Mazak, Mitsubishi, MX3D, Norsk Titanium, Okuma, Optomec, Prima Additive, Prodways, Ramlab, Relativity Space, Sciaky, Titomic, Trumpf, WAAM3D, and XBeam3D.
From the Report:
• In addition to the fabrication of large parts, large-format printing is used for (1) the repair of worn or deteriorated parts, (2) adding new features to an existing part, (3) metal coating and (4) the creation of new materials from multiple metals. Repair is already important. DED is used to repair military equipment. It is also used extensively to repair turbine blades, satellites and other high-end equipment. DED repair eliminated the need for emergency repairs and nonscheduled downtime at Toyota.
• Aerospace is one of the main applications for the machines covered in this report. Large-format additive can reduce long lead times. Producing large structural parts for aerospace applications with traditional methods can take up to a year. Potentially, large-format technology can print multi-part components as a single part. With this approach, assembly times can be significantly reduced and reliability can be enhanced. In the future, large sized parts – such as wings – can be produced by large-format machines in the form of meshes, which leads to lower weights. However, the current generation of large-format machines are not well adapted to creating meshes. In 2026, SmarTech expects purchases of large-format additive machines by the aerospace industry to reach almost $130 million.
• Metal service bureaus meet the AM needs of industry where end user firms do not have the experience or hardware to do their own metal printing. Some bureaus have DED and WAAM machines and it is likely that a few have other large-format machines. Indeed, because large-format machines are rather expensive specialist systems, they are perhaps more likely to be found in bureaus than on end user premises, at least that is out speculation. In 2026, SmarTech expects purchases of large-format additive machines to reach over $100 million.
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