The State of Additive Manufacturing in 2025 – Insights from Formnext

Few fields move as quickly as additive manufacturing. Every year brings new breakthroughs – and new challenges – for companies trying to keep up. This year’s Formnext offered a clear snapshot of where the industry is heading, with several themes emerging across technologies and applications. On the metal side in particular, defence, energy, and aerospace dominated interest. These are the trends that stood out at Formnext 2025.

#1 Productivity: Large-Scale Printing at Industrial Speed

A central theme across the fair was the need to increase productivity to enable broader industrial adoption. High-throughput metal AM is becoming essential for reducing lead times, decreasing energy consumption, and enabling emerging business models such as manufacturing-on-demand and manufacturing-as-a-service. Two directions dominated the metal AM landscape.

• Multi-laser Architectures
  Manufacturers of Powder Bed Fusion Laser Beam (PBF-LB) machines continue to scale throughput by expanding and improving multi-laser systems. New systems featuring both higher laser counts and increased laser power – including new innovative hardware solutions – are emerging, targeting sectors with stringent throughput and precision requirements. These systems reflect the industry-wide shift toward high-volume metallic AM.
• Enhanced Melting Efficiency via Beam Shaping
  Beyond increasing laser count, PBF-LB vendors highlighted strategies to improve melting efficiency through programmable beam profiles and optimized optics. Beam shaping is becoming a key enabler for higher printing speeds, improved melting rates, and more stable process conditions – supporting both productivity and part quality.

Also on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) side, new machine launches were complemented by hardware and software solutions designed to scale production. Machine suppliers are now targeting a more production-focused customer segment, as new nozzle technologies and hardware become available on the market.

#2 Size: Bigger Builds, Growing Capabilities

There was a strong emphasis on Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) for both polymers and metals. Several polymer-focused LSAM equipment manufacturers demonstrated live printing across a range of materials and setups. On the metal side, Wire-based Directed Energy Deposition (DED/w) system providers showcased machines and large-format demonstrator parts produced in several different materials.

#3 Monitoring & Qualification: Reducing Post-Process Burden and Enabling Trustworthy Production

As PBF-LB systems increase in scale and complexity, qualification and quality assurance are becoming critical bottlenecks. Traditional non-destructive testing is not always effective for large or intricate components, reinforcing the need for advanced monitoring solutions.

• Integrated Process Monitoring
  Several suppliers presented machines equipped with melt-pool sensors, thermal imaging, high-speed cameras, and plume analysis. These tools generate real-time process data that provide an increasingly detailed view of the build, enabling earlier identification of deviations and potential defects.
• Towards Closed-Loop Control
  Formnext 2025 discussions emphasised the next step: using process data to adapt parameters during the build. Although still emerging, closed-loop control development is accelerating, especially in sectors where qualification is regulated and data traceability is mandatory.
• Progress in Standards and Qualification Frameworks
  Standards bodies and certification organisations were prominently active, focusing on data-driven qualification pathways, multi-laser process consistency, and harmonised metrics for monitoring. These developments will be essential for scaling AM in safety-critical industries.

#4 Broader Industry Momentum

Industrialisation continues to accelerate, with AM increasingly positioned for serial production rather than prototyping. Software advancements in simulation, toolpath generation, and real-time control have the potential to strengthen the reliability, efficiency, and robustness of metal AM workflows. However, full benefits will only be realized if hardware and software developments align with practical industrial applications. Several collaborations were announced during this year’s fair, underscoring a continued push toward industrial maturity among suppliers. Multiple actors across different AM-value chains signed Letters of Intent (LOI's), highlighting a trend toward deeper integration between hardware and software in the sector. Yet, we can still see that the industry lacks purpose-built machinery for application-specific use cases.

RISE Strategically Aligned with Emerging Trends

By tracking technological developments, understanding the complexities of scaling AM, and bridging industry with research, academia, and hardware and software suppliers, the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing at RISE is well positioned to accelerate adoption and further the industrialization of AM.

The newly initiated RES2AM project, focusing on monitoring, qualification, and first-time-right production for large metallic components, is fully aligned with the trends highlighted at Formnext 2025. The event reinforced the importance of integrated monitoring, robust qualification strategies, and scalable machine architectures – validating the project’s timing and strategic direction.

By Saeed Khademzadeh, Researcher at RISE, and Arvid Svanberg, Co-Director of the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing at RISE.