EPlus3D partner has 50,000 orders for 3D printed AI server cooling parts
EPlus3D says it has 50,000 orders for liquid cooling components for AI servers, produced by metal powder bed fusion (PBF). The company delivered its first components in August, according to a report from 3DPrint.com.
The actual production is being done by a partner, Toptra Laser Technology in Hangzhou. Toptra runs three dedicated production lines made up of 15 machines, producing 1,000 components a month. It has ordered five more machines to keep up with demand.
Fifteen machines making 1,000 units a month works out to roughly 67 units per machine. Add five machines at the same rate and Toptra tops out around 1,300 units a month, which is nowhere near enough to clear 50,000 orders without either a long backlog or a plan to push more throughput per machine than the current line is getting.
3DPrint.com’s Matt Kremenetsky, who broke the story, says he doesn’t know whether EPlus3D has other manufacturers producing the same components, or whether the orders run through EPlus3D or through Toptra directly. Those are the two facts that would actually tell you whether 50,000 is a backlog problem or a one-supplier bottleneck.
The bigger point in the piece is about where metal AM demand is coming from. Kremenetsky contrasts this with the Western AM market, which he says is currently driven mainly by defense work, while Chinese AM companies are leaning into AI hardware and consumer electronics, smartphones in particular. He argues the skill sets and production infrastructure for AI thermal components overlap with those for consumer electronics, which is a different bet than building dedicated capacity for a single sector like defense.
By 2033, AI cooling could require as many PBF machines as are already installed globally across all applications today, according to an AM Research data centers report Kremenetsky cites. That’s a market-level projection, not a count of machines sold, so treat it as a forecast rather than a current figure.
None of this confirms EPlus3D’s 50,000 figure independently. It’s the company’s own claim, relayed through one outlet, with production math that doesn’t obviously add up yet.