On October 28, 2026, industry information was released in "2026 Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) Industry Development Status and Trends." According to statistics from the U.S. consulting firm Wohlers Associates, Inc., the total global additive manufacturing industry output value climbed from USD 12.76 billion in 2020 to USD 21.9 billion in 2024, with a year-on-year growth rate of 9.1% in 2024; of this, the output value of additive manufacturing customized production and technical consulting services reached USD 10.1 billion, up 11.6% year on year. Wohlers predicts that the global market will grow 10.9% to USD 24.2 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 115 billion by 2030. Equipment-side data was also disclosed: global sales of industrial-grade additive manufacturing equipment increased from more than 12,000 units in 2015 to more than 19,000 units in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.24%; sales of metal additive manufacturing equipment increased from more than 800 units in 2015 to more than 2,900 units in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 15.38%. On the materials side, global sales revenue of raw materials dedicated to additive manufacturing increased from USD 768 million in 2015 to USD 4.4 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.40%. In terms of processes, the national standard "Additive Manufacturing Terminology" (GB/T 35351-2017) classifies additive manufacturing into seven basic categories, including powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition. Among them, selective laser melting (SLM), which uses a laser as the energy source, uses metal powders, and可选 materials include titanium alloys, aluminum alloys, superalloys, copper alloys, cobalt-chromium alloys, stainless steel, high-strength steel, mold steel, and refractory metals. At the policy level, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance, and other departments, issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Smart Manufacturing Development," which explicitly lists selective laser melting equipment and selective laser sintering forming equipment in the smart manufacturing equipment innovation and development action. From the "12th Five-Year Plan" to the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, national key R&D programs have supported various innovation entities at high frequency in achieving breakthroughs in basic research, key generic technologies, key equipment and components, and application demonstrations. China has successfully developed process equipment such as stereolithography, selective laser sintering, selective laser melting, laser net shape forming, fused deposition modeling, and electron beam melting forming, and has reached internationally advanced levels in some technical fields such as additive manufacturing of high-performance complex large metal load-bearing components.