May 2025 reinforced a central theme in additive manufacturing: institutionalization. Unlike months focused on new hardware or breakthrough materials, May’s dominant stories revolved around who controls the stack, who certifies parts, and where long-term capital is being deployed. As a result, additive manufacturing increasingly appears with increasing frequency as a critical industrial infrastructure, embedded in national strategies and corporate operations.

Industrial Policy, Capital, and Long-Term Commitment

The month highlighted multi-year investments, signaling that governments and Tier-1 industrial players are committing capital to AM as strategic capacity. For instance, Australia doubled down on its national additive manufacturing centre investment, establishing the $271 million NAMC as a high-value hub for 3D printing across aerospace, defense, and medical applications. The center supports production processes, productivity, and workforce training, reflecting a strategic view of AM.

Similarly, Swiss provider Oerlikon committed CHF 40 million to its Campus Reichhold innovation and production hub, consolidating three existing Swiss sites into a single facility that integrates research, engineering, and manufacturing. Oerlikon additive manufacturing investment production hub, highlights the company’s commitment to advancing AM capabilities.

Ceremony of the new center for thermal spray coatings and systems and laser-based technologies at Campus Reichhold. Photo via Oerlikon.

Both initiatives illustrate that AM is no longer treated as experimental. Australia’s NAMC reflects industrial policy and long-term planning, while Oerlikon’s investment signals private-sector confidence in AM, embedding the technology in national and corporate balance sheets.

Consolidation and Control of the Industrial Stack

May 2025 highlighted a pronounced trend in AM: incumbents are consolidating control over critical parts of the industrial stack. Beyond ownership, this includes metrology, materials, and software infrastructure, which are key components for standardization, qualification, and operational reliability.

Several acquisitions illustrate this shift. AMETEK FARO acquisition of additive manufacturing metrology strengthened AMETEK’s control over precision measurement and inspection capabilities, critical for qualification and reliability in AM. Stratasys strengthened its industrial position through the Stratasys Forward AM materials acquisition, enhancing its capabilities in Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF) and Digital Light Processing (DLP) technologies.

Similarly, KEYENCE CADENAS acquisition 3D engineering software gives KEYENCE the opportunity to advance the development of 3Dfindit, CADENAS’ engineering platform, and enhance its digital catalog capabilities for global users. Meanwhile, Sodick Prima Additive acquisition metal 3D printing allowed Sodick to extend its reach into advanced metal AM.

CADENAS becomes part of the KEYENCE Group. Image via CADENAS GmbH.

These moves are not about growth hype; they are about risk management, margin protection, and tightening oversight of the design-to-production pipeline. By bringing materials IP, metrology, and software under their control, machine-tool and automation giants are absorbing AM into established industrial frameworks rather than being disrupted by it. The broader implication is clear: consolidation reinforces standards and process governance.

Market Stress and the Prosumer Reality Check

While the month underscored consolidation and capital deployment by industrial players, not all segments of AM are stabilizing. The prosumer and professional desktop market, in particular, continues to show structural strain.

A clear signal came from the BCN3D bankruptcy in the prosumer 3D printer market. Rather than a story of outright failure, this episode reflects persistent pressures on mid-range desktop manufacturers: pricing constraints, limited access to capital, and competition from both higher-end industrial machines and low-cost consumer devices.

BCN3D’s Headquarters. Photo via BCN3D.

The prosumer segment’s fragility provides a counterpoint to the robust investments and acquisitions seen elsewhere in May. Although BCN3D later stabilized, the month’s developments underscore the continued vulnerability of mid-range prosumer offerings compared with the broader, industrial-scale adoption of AM.

Governance, Discipline, and the Post-Merger Era

May also highlighted a shift from expansion to operational discipline among AM consolidators, with Nano Dimension restructuring strategy FY 2025 serving as a leading example. Following a period of aggressive acquisitions and SPAC-era growth, Nano Dimension is consolidating its portfolio, aligning business units, and establishing operational controls to ensure stability and predictability across its product lines.

Insights from our Nano Dimension CBO interview underscore this evolution. Julien Lederman describes the company’s current focus as embedding disciplined processes, streamlining workflows, and aligning resources with strategic priorities, steps that reflect a broader post-SPAC reckoning in the industry.

Julien Lederman, Nano Dimension’s CBO. Photo via Nano Dimension

This evolution underscores that, in 2025, structured integration and rigorous governance are as essential to AM as technological innovation, moving the sector away from speculation-driven growth toward institutionalized management practices.

Qualification, Standards, and Trust Infrastructure

In May, the focus in AM continued to expand beyond the 3D printers themselves. The industry’s most significant constraints were inspection, certification, and standards, highlighting a broader move toward building trust infrastructure as the core enabler of industrial adoption.

Notable developments include America Makes QTIME additive manufacturing inspection to advance AM capabilities in LPBF and DED processes, Singapore aerospace additive manufacturing standard, and ASML qualified additive manufacturing supply chain. Certification efforts also extended into maritime and energy, with Titomic DNV certification for maritime additive manufacturing, while Lithoz achieved ISO 13485 for medical device 3D printing.

Ceramic Casting. Photo via Lithoz

Collectively, these initiatives signal a maturing ecosystem. Standards and verification frameworks are spreading beyond aerospace into semiconductors, maritime, energy, and medical ceramics, reflecting that inspection and quality assurance are now structural challenges rather than temporary hurdles.

In this context, AM increasingly progresses at the “speed of trust,” with adoption dependent on demonstrable reliability, repeatability, and regulatory compliance.

Defense as Demand-Side Pull, Not Experimentation

May also reinforced that AM is no longer a tool for experimentation within defense; it has become an integrated component of production and supply chains.US Air Force additive manufacturing program selected Elementum 3D as one of the awardees for the $46 billion Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC), underscoring this transition by embedding advanced materials and reactive AM into armament modernization programs.

Graphic displaying the official emblems of the U.S. Air Force and EWAAC. Photo via Elementum 3D.

Collaborations across the defense sector further highlight this trend. Nikon SLM Solutions, ATI, and Bechtel Plant Machinery deployed NXG 600E metal printers to produce high-performance components for hypersonic propulsion in additive manufacturing. Meanwhile, Velo3D Amaero supply agreement metal additive manufacturing expanded the company’s footprint, while Velo3D defense manufacturing Ohio Ordnance Works optimized 3D printed weapon components through a strategic collaboration.

These initiatives exemplify programmatic adoption rather than pilot-scale trials. Defense procurement now drives industrial pull-through, with propulsion and materials ecosystems forming around qualified suppliers.

Critical alloys like Inconel, Copper, Aluminum and Titanium. Image via Velo3D.

AI Moves into Operations, Not Just Design

In May, AI in additive manufacturing shifted from generating design novelty to operational integration. The partnership between Palantir Technologies and Divergent Technologies exemplifies this evolution, withAI-powered on-demand manufacturing Palantir, enabling users of Palantir to access Divergent’s on-demand components, improving flexibility and accelerating production timelines.

This development demonstrates AI’s role in industrializing complexity. Instead of replacing engineers, it identifies production bottlenecks, optimizes resources, and enables just-in-time manufacturing. It also reinforces broader consolidation and governance trends, with decision-making, data management, and operational oversight increasingly coordinated through software-driven systems.

DAPS in use during vehicle assembly at Divergent Technologies’ facility. Photo via Divergent Technologies.

Regulation of Files, Not Just Parts

The month highlighted a growing focus on digital governance in AM. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., together with New York legislators, introduced the New York 3D printed gun blueprint law (S227A/A1777A), which criminalizes the online sharing of 3D printed firearm designs. By targeting digital files rather than just physical parts, the legislation sets a precedent for platform liability and the management of open-source CAD.

The implications extend beyond firearms. As AM ecosystems become increasingly digital, control over design files is emerging as a critical lever of operational, regulatory, and institutional oversight, reinforcing May’s broader shift toward digital governance as a foundation for standards, certification, and strategic industrial control.

New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, left, holding a 3D printed ghost gun, stands with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, middle, and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal. Photo via Manhattan DA.

May’s Legacy for the Rest of 2025

May 2025 marked a turning point in AM, signaling the sector’s shift from innovation-driven hype to structured industrialization. The month demonstrated that long-term capital commitments, rigorous standards, and operational discipline are now the primary drivers of progress.

Investments by governments and Tier-1 industrial players, along with the embedding of AM into defense supply chains, highlighted strategic intent and resilience. Meanwhile, AI’s integration into production and supply decisions illustrated that digital tools are operationalizing complexity rather than merely generating novelty.

By the close of May, it was clear that AM’s trajectory is defined less by new technologies or individual innovators and more by who controls, certifies, and governs, signaling 2025 as a turning point toward industrial maturity and structural consolidation.

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Featured image shows Ceremony of the new center for thermal spray coatings and systems and laser-based technologies at Campus Reichhold. Photo via Oerlikon.

Paloma Duran

Paloma Duran holds a BA in International Relations and an MA in Journalism. Specializing in writing, podcasting, and content and event creation, she works across politics, energy, mining, and technology. With a passion for global trends, Paloma is particularly interested in the impact of technology like 3D printing on shaping our future.

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