A prosthetic hand printed with rigid bones and soft fingertips in a single run. A medical device emerging from a printer already sealed, sterile, and ready within hours. This is no longer science fiction; it is what modern 3D printing already delivers across many industries.
At the center of this shift is Prusa Research, a Czech company that has just announced its partnership with Israeli start-up Filament2 on new systems that fuse flexible and solid materials in one print. The technology promises advances in personalized healthcare, robotics, and even national security. It is being used by advanced aerospace industries and space engineers, as well as small businesses and hobbyists. But the growing adoption also raises a broader question: who will control the tools that shape tomorrow’s industries - and is the data sent to the printers safe?
Where did all my data go?
3D printing began in the West two decades ago as a largely open-source movement. But it has recently been fundamentally reshaped by China’s influence. Over the past five years, Chinese manufacturers have captured nearly 95% of the global desktop 3D-printer market, up from just 23% in 2017. The rise has been fueled by state subsidies, below-cost pricing, patent trolling, and a flood of low-priced models. As a result, most Western producers have been squeezed out, and Prusa today remains the last substantial producer of 3D printers in the West.
“The development is very unhealthy,” Prusa says. “Instead of competitors playing by the same fair rules, we’re seeing state-backed players from a communist regime selling their subsidized printers for less than the parts are worth. The next generation of innovators will never emerge if new entrants can’t compete with subsidized giants,” he adds.
Every modern 3D printer is more than a tool; it’s a small computer that stores and transmits data about what it makes. Industry experts warn that what’s printed in a lab might also be replicated elsewhere - unseen, unauthorized, and untraceable. Many Chinese-brand 3D printers default to cloud connectivity that runs through servers subject to Chinese jurisdiction. And Chinese law requires any domestic company to share data with the state upon request.
There are allegations of gigabytes of data being unexpectedly transmitted from Chinese-made 3D printers in Western robotics companies to servers in China, but no company has yet wanted to publicly confirm this. However, there is a growing list of companies and institutions — including Lockheed Martin and NASA - that have addedChinese 3D printers to their internal ban lists and now request Western producers. With one big problem: most of these producers are gone, having closed in the last few years when China heavily subsidized its manufacturers.
Phones, Cars, Cameras… 3D Printers
The pattern of technology “backdoors” is already well-documented across industries, with bans of Huawei’s telecom equipment being the most prominent example. Earlier this year, the IDF banned Chinese-made cars from military bases to stop their sensors from collecting sensitive data — and is now reportedly recalling 700 vehicles used by senior officers for the same reason.
In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission has banned millions of Chinese cameras and connected devices over data-security concerns. And state agencies are now extending that scrutiny to 3D printers. In Australia, New South Wales has banned Chinese 3D printers from all public schools and local government agencies over security risks.
Just two weeks ago, the Czech Government issued an official warning against Chinese 3D printers. According to its National Cyber and Information Security Agency, there is a real risk that data on prints, design models, or production processes could be transmitted to servers beyond the user’s control. Such information could be misused for industrial espionage, product copying, or unauthorized access to sensitive technical data.
Defending the Future of Trusted Technology
Prusa Research - today effectively the last independent desktop 3D-printer manufacturer outside China - has built its systems on verifiable software and transparent processes, ensuring that users retain control over what the machines create and where that information goes. Yet even Josef Prusa admits that the openness of these systems has been exploited.
“Open-hardware 3D printing was copied, rebranded, and locked away,” he said recently, acknowledging how state-backed competitors have used Western ingenuity against its inventors. “Now we must protect what we build - or lose it entirely.” His warning reflects a broader dilemma: how can innovators preserve collaboration and creativity without exposing their intellectual property to those who use it to erode their advantage?
As the global 3D-printing market continues to grow and moves toward an estimated value of $57 billion by 2028, more industries are adopting the technology and policymakers are starting to focus on its importance. There are questions of national, and indeed Western, sovereignty in manufacturing as dependence on China in this and other sectors is increasingly scrutinized. But the ultimate concerns about security, data handling, and technological autonomy have become central issues for policymakers, investors, and CEOs globally. The future shape of the 3D-printing sector will be influenced not only by technological progress but also by decisions about how these systems are governed - and whom they ultimately serve.