EXPO 3D Istanbul makes its case as the AM bridge between East and West

EXPO 3D Istanbul drew far more visitors and exhibitors than expected for an additive manufacturing trade fair on its very first edition, and the show is now positioning itself as a key date on the global AM event calendar. The Turkish show aims to connect Western and Eastern AM companies and adopters at a time when international trade connections are both more needed and harder to establish than before.

The event was held at the Istanbul Fair Center from September 16 to 19, 2026, and drew more than 15,000 visitors to a show floor covering 6,000 square meters. The event hosted 100 exhibiting companies representing over 250 brands, and organizers put the trade volume generated on site at 450 million Turkish lira (over 8 million euros). Those numbers place this year’s fair among the region’s larger additive manufacturing gatherings.

The show ran alongside the fifth International 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Conference, held with the support of Yıldız Technical University. It drew visitors from the defense, automotive, aerospace, and medical sectors, as well as engineers, designers, and manufacturing buyers. Exhibits covered metal 3D printing, polymers, bioengineering, construction, footwear, furniture, marine and healthcare applications, which reflects Istanbul’s role as a crossing point for additive manufacturing business between Turkey, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

For a quick walkthrough of the show floor, please see the video above. To learn more about the companies exhibiting, read on.

The show goes on.

Since ancient times, Istanbul has been a gateway between East and West, connecting Asia and Europe across the Bosphorus, a small and beautiful strait. The Bosphorus links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which in turn connects to the Aegean and the Mediterranean via the Dardanelles. That makes the strait part of the boundary between the two continents and one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. Istanbul sits on both sides of it, split between its European and Asian shores, with the water running right through the middle of the city. Visitors can cross it by boat and today also by an undersea rail line that takes just a few minutes.

TAM Fuarcılık ve Organizasyon, the Istanbul-based company that organized Expo 3D, built the show around that geography. Speaking with VoxelMatters on the show floor, co-founder Murat Paksuz said the response surprised even the organizers. “It’s our first time dedicated to this sector. Of course, we worked a lot, but we didn’t expect this kind of interest from all industries, producers, and also buyers,” he said. By then, more than 10,000 professionals had already registered to attend over the three days.

Paksuz said the show had brought in around 60% of Turkey’s additive manufacturing producers in its first year, and TAM wants to grow that share while adding more international companies, more countries, and more buyers. Most exhibitors were importers, a balance Paksuz wants to shift toward domestic production. “Our main job is to create more local producers and help their export levels and also support importers as well,” he said.

Asked whether Istanbul’s historic role as a meeting point could carry over to 3D printing, Paksuz said recent events have raised the city’s importance, “but it was already the crossroads of the world.” He sees the show as a way for European companies to meet buyers from markets they struggle to reach directly because of visa barriers, such as North Africa and the Middle East, including Dubai. “It will be a huge opportunity for European companies to be here in the following years,” he said.

TAM chose this moment to launch the show because interest has spread across Turkish industry. “Every producer and industry in Turkey has become very interested,” Paksuz said, adding that companies are experimenting with additive manufacturing on both a hobby and a production basis, as are universities, industrial facilities, and academic centers. “When we see that industry can experience a show, it’s a real trade, then we start this exhibition.”

Turkish manufacturers

Local producers of printers and materials made up a large part of the show floor.

On the hardware side, the largest industrial name among the Turkish exhibitors was Ermaksan, a Bursa-based sheet metal machinery manufacturer founded in 1965. Its Metal 3D Printing Solutions division produces metal 3D printers and metal powders, and AM is one of the company’s three technology pillars alongside sheet metal processing and optoelectronics.

Another company standing out internationally is Avenco 3D, based in Istanbul’s İkitelli industrial zone, which builds much larger systems. The company makes industrial platforms for 3D concrete printing in construction and for thermoplastic LFAM of furniture, molds, and boats, and it develops its own thermoplastic extruders, concrete extruders, and mobility systems.

Among the more traditional material extrusion hardware companies, Istanbul-based Setla 3D designs and builds FDM/FFF 3D printers, including large-format models such as the Setla Z100 Plus for industrial applications. Ankara-based TULPAR 3D builds industrial FDM/FFF systems in its UX and HX series with a specifci focus on defense, but also industrial segments like automotive, aerospace, medical, and tooling users. It pairs the machines with in-house production and engineering services that run from prototyping and reverse engineering to serial production in engineering plastics such as PC, PA, and PP.

On the materials side, Porima (Porima Polimer Teknolojileri) is Turkey’s largest domestic 3D printer filament manufacturer. Its PoLine range covers standard and specialty PLA, engineering filaments such as ABS, PETG, nylon, ASA, and PC/ABS, flexible TPU, and a color-shifting line. The company also produces its own PoResin photopolymers. Porima has exported to the US, Europe, and the Middle East since 2020, and its customer list includes Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAŞ), Vestel, and Renault. The company also resells third-party hardware from brands such as Bambu Lab, Creality, Anycubic, ELEGOO, and Snapmaker, alongside its own PorimaX and CSATech accessory lines and a 3D printing service.

Izmir-based Polyture, founded in 2020, produces its own PLA lines (Basic, Pro, Pastel, and Pro Silk) plus ABS and ASA filaments. It runs a “Polyture Verified” quality program that covers raw materials, spooling, a ±0.03 mm diameter tolerance, and packaging. Customers include Arca Defense, BMC, Kansan, Korozo Group, SASA, and the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.

Also in Izmir, Işık Teknoloji brings an industrial materials background to AM. Its core business supplies ceramic components and grinding media to the mining, cement, energy, and petrochemical industries. Its additive manufacturing line formulates DLP and SLA resins, which customers can sell under their own brands, and 3D prints alumina and yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramic parts in quantities from prototypes to serial production.

Istanbul-based +90 3D Digital Factory best represented the contract production side. It runs FDM, PolyJet, SAF, SLS, SLA, MJF, and metal laser sintering systems and operates the largest 3D printing production capacity in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It adds 3D scanning, DfAM consulting, rapid tooling, vacuum casting, and CNC machining for customers including TAI, MAN, BSH, Mercedes-Benz, Renault, and Ford.

Resellers and distributors

Importers formed the majority of exhibitors, and several of Turkey’s main distribution channels were on the floor. Genix Teknoloji, part of the Tecde Group (whose history in the Turkish IT and industrial sectors dates back to 1915), distributes Bambu Lab, Anycubic, Creality, and Snapmaker systems through a nationwide dealer network. Genix is Snapmaker’s sole authorized distributor in Turkey and has supported student projects such as the METUOR Space Team’s 3D-printed rocket. 3Dbizimisimiz (part of the +90 group) focuses on professional systems as the official Turkish reseller for Formlabs, covering the Form 4 and Fuse SLS lines, and for Desktop Metal’s Studio System 2 and Shop System metal platforms.

Başaran Teknoloji brings more than 18 years of AM experience to the industrial end of the market. It partners with HP on MultiJet Fusion systems, including the 5600 and 1200 models, and with Caracol AM on robotic large-format printing. It also runs production facilities at İTÜ Arı Teknokent in Maslak and in Çayırova, Kocaeli. There, it offers FDM, MJF, SLA, SLS, LFAM, binder jetting, and metal sintering services, from R&D to series manufacturing, for the aerospace, automotive, defense, medical, and consumer goods sectors. Customers include Tofaş, Bosch, Eczacıbaşı, and Ford.

Filament Depom is the Turkish distributor for Polymaker and Sunlu. It carries a large catalog of PLA, TPU, engineering, and PVB filaments; sells printers from Bambu Lab, Creality, Elegoo, Snapmaker, and Flashforge; and offers its own Entina printer brand. 3D Tekno Market runs an e-commerce platform and four physical stores in Denizli, Gaziantep, and two Istanbul districts (Kadıköy and Bakırköy). It sells printers from brands ranging from Bambu Lab and Creality to Zortrax, Raise3D, and Ultimaker, along with its own beta filament and domestic materials from Porima. Its customers include Turkish Aerospace Industries, Aselsan, Roketsan, Turkish Airlines, TÜBİTAK, and several Turkish universities. Istanbul-based online retailer Nivida sells its own Filamix filaments alongside printers and materials from Bambu Lab, Creality, Anycubic, eSun, and Elegoo, and it is building a network of sub-dealers.

Many of these resellers are also developing their own filament and printer brands, which suggests the move toward local production that Paksuz described has already started.

From East to West

Several Chinese materials manufacturers exhibited directly. The most recognizable were metal powder producers Avimetal and Vilory and SUNLU, which supplies polymer filaments and resins. No Chinese hardware manufacturers took part directly this year, even though their machines filled many of the resellers’ booths. That gap leaves room for future growth, as more Chinese and Asian AM companies look for routes into Western markets, and Istanbul offers one that sits between the two. Western hardware companies targeting Eastern markets may also find this show as an opportunity worth exploring.

The organizers also want to draw more European and Middle Eastern companies, and their ambitions are large: they see Expo 3D as a future contender to Formnext on the global stage. Head-to-head rivalry between trade shows is common in 3D printing. A more collaborative approach, with Istanbul serving as a regional complement to the established events, would likely do more for the market as a whole. The organizers said Expo 3D will return from September 30 to October 2, 2027, with greater participation and stronger international connections.