Nikon, witnessing a surge in its businesses, is looking to market its metal 3D printers to the U.S. defense and aerospace market.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday, Muneaki Tokunari, president and chief financial officer at Nikon, said the Japanese optics and imaging firm is “betting on many things,” one of which is to expand its customer base for the additive manufacturing machines and lithography systems.
The company strengthened its metal 3D printing business after opening a new facility in California to house professionals from German manufacturer SLM Solutions Group, which it acquired in January 2023.
Metal 3D printers produced by Nikon offer a high level of flexibility when creating a model due to their five-axis mechanism design, with an axis capable of rotating similar to that of a potter’s wheel and another axis that tilts like a swing.
Apart from expanding its U.S. presence, the Japanese company is also setting its sights on the Chinese market. According to Tokunari, the company plans to revamp a lithography machine commonly used for chip manufacturing decades ago.
In China, Nikon equipment is widely used to manufacture so-called “legacy chips” as the East Asian nation pushes to match the capabilities of its adversaries, such as the United States and Japan.