HP delivered a strong fiscal second quarter driven by PC average selling prices and a beefed up printing unit via acquisition, but the real question revolves around when 3D printing and additive manufacturing will be material to the company. Clearly, the Samsung integration is more pressing, but the growth, innovation and potential rests with HP’s 3D printing business. Yes, HP was late to the 3D printing party, but Stratasys is looking for a new CEO and 3D Systems has delivered up results. I’m really excited about the leadership position we’ve taken in 3D Printing and the segment where we operate in a very short period of time. What’s the annual run rate for the business? Given HP’s revenue base we may not know for a while what 3D printing can deliver in terms of sales. Patrick Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights & Strategy, said HP’s 3D printing business is promising because it is landing manufacturing deals instead of prototyping wins. HP’s 3D printing business would have to deliver sales of $5.6 billion mark to be material to an annual sales base estimated to be $56.5 billion in fiscal 2018.

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