Hi, Anna here. I’m back with another edition. Eight stories from the Chinese 3D printing market, all from the past few days.
Let’s start with the biggest one.
Creality reports an expected operating loss
Creality expects to report a net loss of around RMB 53–63 million ($7.8–9.3 million) in the first half of 2026. A year earlier, the company recorded a profit of RMB 107.49 million for the same period.
After adjustments (on a non-IFRS basis), the loss shrinks to RMB 10–20 million.
The company attributes the change to several factors at once: more aggressive promotions and price concessions while entering overseas markets, inventory clearance during the product lineup transition, higher spending on marketing and sales expansion, increased R&D investment, and foreign-exchange losses following the yuan’s appreciation against the US dollar.
Full first-half results are expected by the end of August. The company itself stresses that the figures are preliminary and unaudited.
Bambu Lab: UV printing, patents and its first licensed IP
According to Chinese media outlets 3Dzyk, SFC, and China Star Market, Bambu Lab is officially entering the UV printing market. This comes shortly after the company announced its first laser engraving product. The company is already recruiting people for the new business line, although it has not disclosed any product details or timeline.
At the same time, last week the company published three Chinese patent applications related to multi-nozzle printing. The first describes a printhead with lighting integrated into the air channel, designed to improve AI-based nozzle monitoring. The other two concern a printhead magazine with three-directional positioning, simultaneous release and placement, and a dense nine-slot rack. Together with the printhead itself, this could accommodate up to ten nozzles.
The third Bambu-related story concerns MakerWorld, which has received its first commercial toy IP: PUPIKO. Seven official character models have been made available for free download and personal-use printing. This is the first licensed content on the platform.
Metal AM attracts capital
Rongsong Technology, a Chinese metal 3D printing company, has raised nearly RMB 100 million (around $14 million) in a Series A+ round led by Kunlun Capital. The funding will accelerate development of a new generation of additive manufacturing technologies and desktop metal production. The company also used the opportunity to unveil its consumer brand, SnowX. Later this year, SnowX plans to launch a desktop metal 3D printer. The team includes people from DJI, Xiaomi and ByteDance.
Rongsong’s existing DED products, the Laser One and L1 Lite, have already been delivered to customers in batches and have won industry awards. Kunlun Capital described consumer metal 3D printing as “the next gold mine.”
A second investment came from laser giant Hymson Laser. The company has established a wholly owned subsidiary, Hymson Additive (Guangzhou), with registered capital of RMB 20 million, headed by chairman Zhao Shengyu. This marks Hymson’s official entry into industrial metal 3D printing.
Over the past 16 months, Hymson has invested in desktop 3D printer manufacturer LightMake, developed its own BST beam-shaping technology, which reportedly doubles productivity, and validated processes for titanium alloys. The new subsidiary will manufacture industrial equipment, sell metal powders, and offer design services and software, connecting hardware, materials and software into a single ecosystem. The goal is to compete in the premium segment while avoiding the crowded, low-cost consumer market.
TPM3D to unveil new 3D printer at Formnext Asia
TPM3D will showcase its latest solutions at Formnext Asia in Shenzhen (August 26–28, booth C81, Hall 15). The star of the show will be the global debut of its professional SLS platform, the CF250 + PPS250. Compared with its predecessor, it offers a larger build chamber and roughly twice the productivity while maintaining a compact footprint and standard 220 V power.
The company will also showcase the industrial P360 + PPS system, along with SLS parts for medical applications, robotics, industry and footwear. Technical presentations will include the combination of SLS with supercritical foaming for the production of footwear and lightweight robotic components.
Print farms and a viral figurine
According to Nanji Xiong, the popular movie character “Niu Lai” has triggered a genuine 3D printing frenzy in China. Since August 15, numerous print farms have released thousands of figurines. The owner of one farm, with more than 1000 printers, reportedly made over RMB 100,000 in just a few days. The STL model was created with the help of AI in about an hour and then sent into mass production. Dozens of versions are already circulating online.
Questions about copyright are inevitable, although some commenters point out that the independent film may not have any registered IP at all.
The scale is impressive. As of mid-2026, China has more than 2,000 3D printing farms operating around 300,000 machines.