HP is now taking orders for its first 3D printer, the Jet Fusion 3D, which starts at $130K and HP says is 10X faster than rivals; orders will ship in late 2016
Lucas Mearian / Computerworld :
Context & Ripple Effects
HP is converting its 3D-printing push from talk to product: days after launching HP Tech Ventures with an explicit 3D-printing investment mandate, the company is now taking orders for its first printer, the Jet Fusion 3D, at an enterprise-grade $130K starting price. The move positions HP above the desktop tier where Formlabs launched its $3,499 Form 2 eight months earlier — two very different bets on who actually buys 3D printers.
First-order effects
- Manufacturers evaluating production 3D printing get a new high-throughput option priced an order of magnitude above desktop machines, with HP's 10X-faster claim aimed squarely at volume production rather than prototyping hobbyists.
- Formlabs and other desktop makers are unaffected on price but now face an incumbent defining 'industrial 3D printing' as a category they don't play in.
Second-order effects
- Rivals must answer the speed benchmark or cede the production-floor argument — throughput, not resolution, becomes the competitive axis at the enterprise tier.
- HP's adjacent hardware moves, like the Sprout Pro all-in-one pitched at 3D creators, suggest it is bundling capture-and-design endpoints around the printer to own the full workflow.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, 3D printing splits into a two-tier industry — cheap desktop units for creators and six-figure production systems for manufacturers — with incumbents like HP using capital (Tech Ventures) and distribution to lock up the enterprise layer.
- Materials and service contracts become the recurring-revenue battleground once the $130K hardware sale is made, mirroring how traditional print vendors monetize installed bases.
The trend: 3D printing is bifurcating into a consumer-desktop market and an enterprise production market, with PC incumbents like HP entering at the top and venture arms securing the supply side.