What Kind of Future Would It Be if 10 Million Families in China Installed 3D Printers?

If 3D printing is to truly reach every household, machines using FDM technology are the most likely to achieve this.

Nanjixiong speculates that in 2025, China's 3D printer production may reach 7 million units, of which more than 5 million will be consumer-grade FDM 3D printers. The second largest category will be consumer-grade LCD resin 3D printers, with nearly 1 million units. The remaining units will consist of professional or industrial-grade DLP/SLA resin 3D printers, metal 3D printers, nylon 3D printers, and others.

A factory owner said that he had been brainwashed by Nanjixiong and strongly agreed with the data mentioned in an article published by Nanjixiong: "Tuzhu 3D printers have accumulated over 170,000 orders on Taobao! Domestic cumulative revenue has reached 3.6 billion RMB? Global revenue could reach 36 billion RMB by 2030?" The article suggests that in China alone, 10 million households will own 3D printers in the next five years, the global consumer 3D printing market will reach 100 billion RMB, and over 90% of the market share will be captured by Chinese manufacturers (especially Tuzhu, Creality, Flashforge, Anycubic, and Longer).

With the rapid development of AI large models for automated generation of 3D printable models such as Tripo, Tencent Hunyuan 3D, and Meshy, the sources of 3D model content can expand by 100 to even 1000 times compared to now. Previously, creating a model of a pig with wings might have taken one or two days, but now it only takes one or two minutes, and there is no need to learn 3D modeling software.

The Antarctic Bear Mascot Running with AI Modeling

The market potential of 3D printing is truly immense.

As of 2025, the annual sales of 3D printers within China still do not reach 1 million units, with the majority of the several million units produced being exported abroad.

Here comes the question: if 3D printers are to be truly accepted by a large number of ordinary households and become a household appliance like televisions, what improvements and enhancements still need to be made? Manufacturers are all competing fiercely, striving for better technology, a better user experience, faster printing speeds, and greater stability.

Nanjixiong hopes to initiate a brainstorming session, encouraging everyone to think about and imagine what future 3D printers, materials, software, and 3D models should be like in order for 10 million Chinese households to have a 3D printer installed.

The fully colored 3D-printed Antarctic bear mascot is quite cute, holding a pacifier in its mouth. The 3D printing industry is actually still a newborn in need of care, with an unlimited future full of possibilities.