In VDMA Additive Manufacturing's autumn 2026 survey, 64% of respondents reported positive sales development, up from 45% a year earlier. The share reporting decline fell from 29% to 15%. The shift signals improving sentiment in the German AM ecosystem, but VDMA itself stops short of declaring a fundamental turnaround.

Near- and longer-term expectations

For the next twelve months, 40% expect domestic demand to grow, 53% expect stability and 6% expect decline. Over two years, 67% expect growth and 28% stability. That is slightly more cautious than the spring survey's 76% expecting two-year growth.

Investment intentions remain resilient: 72% plan to continue current AM investment, 22% to increase it and 7% to reduce spending. Rounding and question structure mean totals need not equal exactly 100%.

Drivers and constraints

Respondents identified new applications (53%), technology development (51%) and new markets (42%) as positive factors. Future priorities included technology development (61%), cost (57%), process stability and reproducibility (50%), serial production (48%), new applications (46%) and market acceptance (43%).

The answers indicate a shift from simply acquiring machines toward stable, economical and repeatable production. Aerospace and medical technology gained application weight, while mechanical engineering was named less often as the dominant field.

How to read the survey

This is a membership and industry sentiment survey, not audited revenue statistics. The public summary does not disclose full sample size, respondent distribution, weighting or uncertainty. A large machine maker and a small service bureau may each represent one answer, so percentages are not shares of industry revenue.

The result is Germany-centred even though the AM supply chain is international. Procurement, currency, export and geopolitical effects differ by region. Treat the survey as a directional indicator to compare with orders, utilisation, service volumes and public financial data.

Editorial conclusion

Autumn 2026 looks better than a year earlier without becoming euphoric. Investment persists while cost and reproducibility remain major constraints. That can indicate a healthier, industrialising market in which proven applications, rather than installed machine count, move to the centre of the growth story.

Sources and transparency

Figures come from VDMA's primary 19 October 2026 summary and Metal AM's detailed 22 October coverage. The full anonymised dataset and sampling description are not public, so the percentages are not used to calculate market size.