Formlabs is getting bigger than ever, while a 'Dark Horse' revealed itself for the first time at CES in Las Vegas
The Atomic Layers: 00302
Atomic Layer of the Week:
The year 2025 was quite difficult for many companies - to some outright disastrous. But among them were organizations that not only managed to cope surprisingly well, but also achieved record-breaking results in their history.
Guys, I really wish I could write about how things went for us at Bambu Lab… but instead, I’ll write about how things went at Formlabs, which proudly shared its results itself.
This week, Nick Graham, CRO at Formlabs, announced that the company closed 2025 with a record-breaking fourth quarter, achieving the highest sales figures in its history across multiple product categories.
The company reported unprecedented growth in revenue, the number of printers sold, and materials sales, as well as record results in the large-format SLA systems segment and in dental solutions.
According to Graham, particularly impressive was the growth in sales of Fuse printers based on SLS technology, which exceeded +25% year over year. As a result, this model has strengthened its position as the leading SLS 3D printer and, more broadly, the leading powder-based 3D printer overall.
At the same time, the results published by Graham confirm a trend of companies gradually moving away from expensive industrial machines in favor of smaller, more affordable desktop systems.
The economics here are unforgiving. Although large machines offer high throughput, their unit price can be a significant barrier when compared to the alternative of purchasing several smaller (and less powerful) 3D printers, but which provide greater material flexibility.
Overall, Formlabs remains one of the few Western companies that are genuinely growing and are now independent of successive drip funding rounds provided by investment funds.
Atomic Layer from the Past:
14 years ago, 3D Systems launched the Cube, its first consumer 3D printer, at CES in Las Vegas. Priced at $1,299, it aimed to democratize 3D printing for homes 🤪
The sleek, user-friendly device featured a touch interface and used proprietary filament cartridges. Alongside it, the company introduced Cubify.com, a platform with free 3D designs. This marked a major strategic shift for the industrial leader into the consumer market, heavily championed by then-CEO Avi Reichental.
Although ultimately unsuccessful, the Cube generated significant industry excitement at its debut.
Read all:
News & Gossip:
#1
ADDMAN has acquired polymer 3D printing service provider Forecast 3D. The deal expanded ADDMAN’s polymer division, enhancing significantly its SLS and MJF capabilities on the U.S. West Coast. Forecast 3D’s digital platform and Carlsbad facility will create a regional polymer AM hub. ADDMAN CEO Joe Calmese said that it makes them market’s largest AM service provider. The company’s industrial fleet now exceeds 160 systems. Which is indeed respectable number (even in China).
More on: www.tctmagazine.com
#2
The 3D-printing construction company - Black Buffalo 3D Corporation, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company, known for its NEXCON 3D concrete printers and ‘Planitop’ material, struggled in the capital-intensive sector. The bankruptcy highlights growing problems in 3D construction printing industry.
More on: www3druck.com
#3
Accessory maker BIQU is a company that has built its business and recognition largely around Bambu Lab products. This week, it unveiled the Panda Treat, an unusual add-on for Bambu Lab A1 printers. It replaces plastic filament with edible inks such as frosting, allowing decorative lettering or patterns to be applied to cookies, cakes, and other pre-prepared foods.
The toolhead-mounted accessory uses FDA-compliant, certified materials and is controlled via a dedicated web interface. While it promises novel approaches to food decoration, past experience has clearly shown that so-called 3D food printing remains far down the list of things humanity is actually waiting for or realistically expecting.
More on: www.3printr.com
#4
Now this is pretty funny 😁
Creality has launched the SPARKX i7 multi-color 3D printer at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. It supports four-color printing while reducing filament waste by up to 50% and incorporates an AI camera for real-time failure detection. These features aim to simplify the process for both beginners and pros, making advanced multi-color printing more accessible and reliable.
While in reality… they made a perfect clone of Bambu Lab A1. Which was originally released two years ago. I encourage you to watch this comparison and see it for yourself:
And why is it funny? Because I don’t know what is more ridiculous - the attempt to make a perfect copy of the biggest market competitor, or the fact that it took Creality two years to achieve it 😅
More on: www.voxelmatters.com
#5
And this news is much more important. It’s the Dark Horse part…
Also at CES 2026, a brand-new startup, AtomForm, unveiled the Palette 300, a desktop 3D printer featuring 12 nozzles and supporting up to 36 colors. It also uses AI and automation, including more than 50 sensors and four AI cameras. Priced at just over $2,000 retail, it is set to launch on Kickstarter in Q1, with shipments planned for Q2.
I encourage you to visit the website and take a look at the nozzle-swap revolver system. It looks pretty amazing, but I’m afraid it will be a nightmare for support teams to handle repairs in the future.
But it’s not the mechatronics that matter most. It’s who is behind the printer. Officially, it is MOVA Group, a company that produces a wide range of consumer electronics, including vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers. More importantly, however, who is behind MOVA? That would be Dreame Technology - the Chinese giant in household electronics.
I’ve known about this printer and Dreame’s involvement for a couple of months, so I’ve more or less gotten used to the idea. Still, this is going to be very interesting, because it marks the first time a major consumer electronics company has entered the 3D printing space.
I’d say, for all this time Josef Prusa may have been hating the wrong people… Now the real fun begins 🤩
More on: www.3dprint.com
#6
And finally, a piece of news so important that I forgot to include it in last week’s edition. Remember Zortrax? I buried them for dead a few months ago…
But they simply refuse to die! At the very end of last year, they finally published their annual report for 2024. The lack of this report had resulted in the company being suspended from trading on the Polish stock exchange. So, they published it and were reinstated to trading. However, the share price remains at the same dramatically low level (PLN 0.73, or around EUR 0.17).
It also seems to me - though I may be wrong - that the number of board members and supervisory board members is higher than the number of actual employees. So… yeah.
In one of its recent statements, Zortrax threatened to unveil two new 3D printers this year. I’ll let you know when that happens. Because I know you can hardly wait, right?
Fascinating to see Formlabs buckling the downturn trend while others are struggling. The shift to smaller desktop systems over big industrial machines makes total sense economically, though it changes the entire calculus for production planning. I've noticed labs increasingly buying 3 Fuse printers instead of one big SLS rig becuase it spreads risk better. That AtomForm news caught me off guard too, never expected a vaccum cleaner company to jump into 3D printing.