Velo3D inaugurates Forge 1 production campus in Livermore, California
A ribbon-cutting ceremony this week marked the start of operations at the 289,000-square-foot site built to scale Velo3D's metal 3D printing output for aerospace and defense customers.
Metal additive manufacturing company Velo3D marked the opening of its new Livermore, California, production campus this week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by customers, partners, suppliers, investors, and officials from the City of Livermore and the State of California.
The facility, named Forge 1, is Velo3D’s answer to rising demand from customers who want to move beyond prototyping and qualification into production, according to Chief Executive Officer Arun Jeldi. Velo3D first detailed the campus in June, saying the site would operate over 40 metal 3D printers when it officially opened, with the capacity to eventually scale to more than 100 systems.
A different printing job
The Livermore campus spans 289,000 square feet and complements Velo3D’s existing headquarters in Fremont, California, which will continue to handle R&D, applications engineering, process development, customer collaboration, prototyping, and qualification work. Forge 1 includes 270,000 square feet of manufacturing space with clear heights above 36 feet, built to house metal 3D printing systems alongside machining and post-processing equipment for mission-critical components.
With both sites running, Velo3D now covers the full process chain for aerospace and defense application development, qualification, and production. The company has cited a string of recent contracts to support the expansion, including a $32.6 million award from the US Department of War for prototyping and qualifying AM components, a CRADA agreement with the US Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center to develop and qualify 3D printed assemblies for ground combat vehicles, and a multi-year production contract worth $11.5 million with a US defense prime contractor.
A national celebration
Velo3D tied the opening to the timing of America’s 250th anniversary, framing the investment as part of a broader push to build domestic manufacturing capacity for the aerospace, defense, and energy sectors.
Livermore Mayor John Marchand welcomed the company’s arrival, calling Velo3D an industry leader in advanced additive manufacturing and precision engineering and noting the facility will manufacture components that support aerospace production.
