From the moment I stepped onto the show floor at TCT Asia, I knew this event was on a different level to anything I had experienced before. There was a buzz that felt decidedly different to other AM events I had been too.
The scale of the event, two massive halls inside Shanghai's NECC (set to be five next year with a move to a larger venue), was reflected by the scale of the machines on display - towering industrial AM machines surrounding you as soon as you enter.
Eplus3D was showcasing new huge parts printed on its yet-to-be-released E-M3050, 256 laser 3D printer, including a massive 2.8 metre casing printed in 316L stainless steel. Another large-format machine that attracted perhaps the most attention during the show was Farsoon’s FS621 M Pro-8 system, a multi-laser metal system, which the company presented alongside two other new platforms, the FS1311M-U and updated FS812M-U.
One of the headline applications was the LEAP 71 aerospike rocket engine, printed by HBD. The largest aerospike rocket ever printed, according to HBD, it wasn’t easy to get a close look at this during the show due to the consistent volume of curious visitors surrounding it. But I managed to speak to a few of the team at HBD about the collaboration with LEAP 71, who were very proud of the work done on the aerospike, which was printed in Inconel on the company’s E800 3D printer.
MOVA Atomform, a relatively new company at just over two years old, made a splash at the event, and is an example of how China is competing - and arguably winning - across all hardware categories. After launching its Palette 300 system at CES earlier this year, MOVA presented the machine to the AM market for the first time at TCT Asia. Harry Huang of MOVA told TCT that the event had gone better than the company could have imagined, with the new system attracting high levels of interest across the three days.
Speaking on day two of the conference, CONTEXT’s Chris Connery gave a talk about the AM market in China. He compared it to the market in the west, which has seen a number of large companies such as Desktop Metal and Nexa3D to name a few struggle in recent years, whereas Chinese machine shipments are growing. Referring to where China’s AM market is at in 2026, Connery said it was akin to the consumer electronics boom of Japan in the 70s and 80s. He also said: "I would anticipate the China domestic consumption of entry-level 3D printers to accelerate in the years to come."
With well over 40,000 visitors across the three-day-event, over 550 exhibitors, and the show moving to a bigger venue for 2027 at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, TCT Asia really is making its mark as the number one event in the industry.
