IMTS 2026 expands additive manufacturing presence after Formnext Chicago cancellation

IMTS 2026 will run September 14–19 at Chicago's McCormick Place with over 1,800 exhibitors across 1.2 million square feet, organized by AMT—The Association For Manufacturing Technology. The show will feature a significantly expanded additive manufacturing sector, building on the momentum of IMTS 2024 which hosted a dedicated AM Sector accelerated by Formnext. That edition drew first-time AM exhibitors including Colibrium Additive, Würth Additive Group, Powder Motion Labs, Linde Advanced Material Technologies, GKN Additive Forecast 3D, and Caracol. Plans for a standalone Formnext Chicago event were set aside, with the energy redirected into an expanded AM presence at the 2026 show, as confirmed by AMT President Douglas K. Woods.

This expansion matters because IMTS serves as the primary gateway for traditional subtractive manufacturers to evaluate additive technologies in the Western Hemisphere. The show's core audience—machine shops and contract manufacturers with collective $10.5 trillion in investment—represents the largest untapped adoption pool for industrial AM. By embedding AM within the broader manufacturing technology ecosystem rather than isolating it in a standalone event, AMT is following the hybrid manufacturing pattern that has proven most effective for cross-process adoption. The presence of major machine tool builders like Mazak, Okuma, and Index alongside AM exhibitors creates natural comparison points for buyers evaluating whether to add LPBF, binder jetting, or DED capability to existing CNC operations. This mirrors the aerospace qualification grind pattern where AM succeeds when it becomes infrastructure rather than a separate category.

For AM hardware and materials vendors exhibiting at IMTS 2026, the practical challenge is converting floor traffic from machine tool buyers into qualified leads. The show's strength is access to capital-ready manufacturers; its weakness is that AM still represents a small fraction of total exhibit space. Exhibitors should prepare demonstration workflows that show AM as a complement to subtractive processes—not a replacement. The expanded AM sector is a positive signal for adoption velocity, but the real test will be how many of the 1,800 exhibitors' attendees leave with purchase orders for AM equipment rather than just curiosity.