There’s been a whirlwind of additive manufacturing news in 2025, with more industries adopting the technology, and igniting further growth and innovation. From an industry perspective, additive manufacturing is turning into a viable solution to combat multiple challenges manufacturers are dealing with today.
The phrase “industrial 3D printing” highlights how this technology is moving away from solely hobbyist and prototyping use cases into more practical applications in industry. Explore these additive manufacturing news stories of 2025 to see how the 3D printing industry has changed and evolved.
ASME Acquires Women in 3D Printing
In June of this year, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) acquired Women in 3D Printing (Wi3DP). This merger will help Wi3DP evolve and expand its mission, which involves supporting women with additive manufacturing technologies. Under the leadership of ASME, Wi3DP can continue to cultivate an inclusive additive manufacturing community.
The Defense Industry Embraces Additive Manufacturing
Multiple 2025 news stories covered additive manufacturing applications in defense and featured how the United States military is leveraging this technology. Here are a few highlights:
Army Tests 3D Printed Drones to Save Money
The United States Army continues to invest in drones, especially smaller drones. Toward this end, the Army tested 3D printed drones this year, hoping additive manufacturing can help save money on drone production. These drone designs can be 3D printed in the field by Army soldiers for a cost of $2,000-$3,000, whereas a commercially built drone is more than $28,000.
Enhancing Mission Readiness With Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing isn’t just helping the military save money but also improving mission readiness. With additive manufacturing, military units can print a tool or component as needed. Relying solely on traditional manufacturing methods and supply chains requires more time and logistics, slowing down the process and risking mission readiness.
Using additive manufacturing reduces reliance on global supply chains and third-party suppliers. With this technology, defense teams can create parts on demand, even in remote locations or crisis situations.
This article highlights a recent use case that the United States Air Force had for additive manufacturing. A supplier stopped manufacturing a required part, so the Air Force invested in 3D printing to make the part itself. Even with the cost of the printer, the organization was still able to save thousands of dollars by manufacturing the part itself, and now it isn’t reliant on the whims of an external supplier.
As an additive manufacturing news story of 2025, this article shows how the technology is making defense operations more efficient, and highlights the need for full-scale adoption. Additive manufacturing helps address the challenges of defense logistics, allowing the military to cut costs and remain mission-ready.
Analysis of U.S. Military Budget Shows Increased Commitment to Additive Manufacturing
Some of the biggest defense-related additive manufacturing news of 2025 is related to the United States Department of Defense’s 2026 budget. This budget allocates ~$3.3 billion to defense projects that involve additive manufacturing. This is an 83% increase from the 2025 budget.
The Additive Manufacturing Ecosystem Convenes in Detroit
In 2025, RAPID + TCT brought industry-leading companies and 3D printing experts to Detroit. As North America’s largest additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing event, RAPID + TCT hosted thousands of professionals from the industry.
RAPID + TCT 2025 Brings Together the Best in Additive Manufacturing
From April 8-10, RAPID + TCT brought together the brightest minds in additive manufacturing, with 400 exhibiting companies showcasing 3D printing technologies, additive innovations, new products, and inventive applications. Major industry exhibitors included Formlabs, Siemens, EOS, HP 3D, KraussMaffei, Rapid Liquid Print (RLP), and 3D Systems.
This iteration of RAPID + TCT was particularly notable for its multiple partner events, including SME’s AeroDef Manufacturing, SAE’s World Congress Experience (WCX), and America Makes Technical Review & Exchange (TRX). The collocation of these events provided an extensive network for attendees and exhibitors alike. RAPID + TCT’s Boston event in 2026 is set to bring together the same extensive additive manufacturing ecosystem.
The Formation of the Leading Minds Consortium
Additive manufacturing has proven that it can give real results to manufacturers for a wide range of applications. But the industry is facing the challenge of effectively scaling additive manufacturing production. To do so, industry leaders need to shift away from innovating solely within the additive manufacturing space to include other advanced manufacturing technologies.
This is a challenge for the greater additive manufacturing community and, as such, requires collaboration. The formation of the Leading Minds Consortium aims to tackle this challenge. Founding companies include Ansys, EOS, HP, Materialise, Nikon SLM, Renishaw, Stratasys, and Trumpf.
Some goals for this group are streamlining additive adoption, ensuring these technologies effectively work alongside traditional manufacturing methods, and eliminating silos and fragmentation. One of the first initiatives toward these goals will be to create a standard language model for additive manufacturing processes.
This additive manufacturing news story showcases how industry-leading companies are collaborating to turn additive technologies into integrated, scalable tools for manufacturers.
Improving Automotive Manufacturing With Additive Manufacturing
Almost all major car manufacturers are now using 3D printing. Both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. — the latter of which is the largest automaker in the United States — are using additive manufacturing technologies to create end-use parts. For example, GM integrated 115 3D printed components into its high-end Cadillac CELESTIQ.
In 2025, GM reiterated its commitment to using additive manufacturing. The technology isn’t just limited to improving vehicle design and performance; it’s also used to enhance production processes. The company currently has thousands of additive manufacturing projects and is an example of 3D printing’s capabilities in the automotive industry.
Onward to 2026
These additive manufacturing news stories highlight how the technology has grown in 2025 and laid the groundwork for continued innovation. Multiple manufacturing sectors are embracing this technology, and several industry events and organizations are forming or expanding to make additive manufacturing even more accessible and effective for manufacturers.
2026 is sure to bring even more exciting events and noteworthy projects within the additive manufacturing space. If you’re a manufacturer looking to keep up with the latest in additive manufacturing and 3D printing, explore attending the RAPID + TCT conference, taking place from April 13-16, 2026, in Boston.