3D printing related services (consulting services, systems integration services and on-demand part services) and material spending combined will deliver nearly 45% of the total spending in the region throughout the forecast period. Purchase of software will trail behind in the overall market with five-year CAGR of 26.9%.

"China is the force behind APEJ growth. The Chinese Government is in support of the industry and multiple 3D printing action plan and fiscal supports are seen in place. As results, it boosted the 3D printing uses and spending in the country with continuous interest and rising maturity," said Mun Chun Lim, Market Analyst, of IDC Asia/Pacific’s Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions Research.

Discrete manufacturing is the dominant industry in APEJ with spending to be nearly $1.1billion in 2018. This industry is expected to remain the largest spending in the region throughout the forecast period, reaching $1.7billion in 2021. Education and healthcare provider industry falls after discrete manufacturing industry, which will account 37% of the overall spending in total across the region in 2021.

"Manufacturers in APeJ have started to evaluate and implement additive manufacturing. Coupled with government push in advanced manufacturing, discrete manufacturing industry will continue to dominate majority of the spending in the region," adds Lim. "Education remains to be the focus in majority of the countries across the region while healthcare industry is gaining traction with rising demand of customized medical solutions and increasing spending power among patients in the region."

Leading use cases for 3D printing in discrete manufacturing include prototypes, molds and aftermarket parts. These three use cases will account for 68% of total spending across the discrete manufacturing industry in 2018. In education, learning or research activities are the dominant use cases. On the other hand, dental objects, surgical models, medical support objects are widely use cases seen in healthcare provider industry. These use cases are expected to combine and deliver $427 million in 2021, an increase of 140% over 2017.

The industries that will see the fastest growth in 3D printing spending over the five-year forecast are the telecommunications industries (50.2% CAGR) and resource industries (44.0% CAGR).

"As we are gearing towards industry 4.0 era, 3D printing is poised to transform the manufacturing process and how things are made. The advent of 3D printing opens up endless possibilities and unleashing disruptive power in global supply chain. With on-going development, we will see penetration of 3D printing in other industries, with more innovative use cases developed,” adds Lim.

The Worldwide Semiannual 3D Printing Spending Guide quantifies the opportunity for 3D printing, which enable the creation of objects and shapes made through material that is laid down successively upon itself from a digital model or file. Spending data is available for 15 use cases across 19 industries in nine geographic regions. Data is also available for 3D printing hardware, materials, software, and services. Unlike any other research in the industry, the comprehensive spending guide was designed to help IT decision makers to clearly understand the industry-specific scope and direction of 3D printing expenditures today and over the next five years.