AMPulse Asia: India’s Orbital Launch Headlines a Busy Second Half of July

The second half of July brought major developments across Asia’s additive manufacturing sector. Highlights included India’s first private orbital launch powered by 3D printed engines, a billion-yuan ownership change at a Chinese cold-spray AM specialist, Korea’s first certification for metal AM repair, and continued momentum in consumer hardware and footwear.

China

Chaozhuo Aviation Technology’s founders agree to sell control to Taiyang Technology for RMB 1.02 billion

Chaozhuo Aviation Technology (超卓航科), a Shanghai-listed supplier of cold-spray additive manufacturing and aviation repair services, announced that its founding family will transfer a 26.58% controlling stake to Shanghai Taiyang Technology for RMB 1.02 billion (about US$140 million). The July 22 agreement prices shares at RMB 42.80, roughly a 20% discount to the pre-suspension close, and the stock resumed trading on July 23.

HeyGears passes US$7 million on Kickstarter for the G1 full-color 3D and UV printer

HeyGears (黑格科技) launched its G1 Series, billed as the first desktop full-color 3D and UV printer, on Kickstarter on July 23, where the campaign passed US$7 million within its first days. The piezo-inkjet system combines full-color 3D printing with UV surface printing in one modular device, with pricing from US$1,999.

Bit Infinite closes back-to-back angel rounds as its text-to-CAD model gains traction

Bit Infinite (比特无限) closed consecutive angel and angel-plus rounds, bringing total funding to about RMB 45 million since April and lifting its valuation roughly tenfold in three months, with backers including Zhuoyuan Asia, Rongyi Investment, Puhua Capital, and Yide Capital. Its 4-billion-parameter Arko-T model generates editable physical 3D designs from text and powers the free sparkoh.ai modeling tool.

Xihe Additive brings its second Jiangxi plant online, targeting 50 metal printers a month

Xihe Additive (希禾增材), a Shenzhen developer of green-laser metal 3D printers, is bringing its second-phase plant in Ganzhou, Jiangxi online this month, targeting output of 50 machines a month by the end of the third quarter. Its 532nm green-laser systems are aimed at high-reflectivity metals such as copper.

Japan

MadeHere delivers 3D printed vehicle parts to Japan’s defense procurement agency in two weeks

MadeHere, a Yokohama-based defense-grade additive manufacturing service provider, delivered 3D printed vehicle parts to Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) within a two-week turnaround, addressing a spare-parts shortage and supporting the agency’s push to localize defense supply chains.

Serendix unveils a 3D printed military shelter concept at Farnborough

Serendix, known for 3D printed homes and Japan’s first 3D printed train station shelter, unveiled a concept model of a 3D printed military shelter at Farnborough International Airshow 2026, extending the protective-structure work it began with high-speed projectile impact tests on printed concrete earlier in July.

South Korea

AM Solutions wins the Korean Register’s first certification for metal AM repair

AM Solutions (에이엠솔루션즈) received the Korean Register’s first certification for additive manufacturing repair technology on July 28. The certification covers laser wire-directed energy deposition (LW-DED) restoration of damaged metal structures, extending classification-approved AM from new-part production into ship and defense maintenance.

Coptic raises a KRW 10 billion pre-IPO round for its Breezm custom eyewear brand

Coptic, operator of the scan-to-print custom eyewear brand Breezm, raised a KRW 10 billion (about US$7 million) pre-IPO round from Seven Bridge Private Equity, bringing cumulative funding to KRW 29 billion. The company plans to expand U.S. stores, strengthen online commerce, and prepare a listing.

On ramps its Busan robotic plant to 1,000 LightSpray pairs a day for the Cloudboom Strike 2 launch

Swiss running brand On expanded its Busan factory to 32 robots producing about 1,000 pairs of LightSpray shoes a day, a roughly 30-fold jump over its Zurich pilot line, ahead of the July 30 Korean launch of the Cloudboom Strike 2, whose sprayed upper is formed in about three minutes.

India

Skyroot reaches orbit with Vikram-1, flying 3D-printed Raman engines

Skyroot Aerospace launched Vikram-1 to a roughly 450-kilometer orbit from Sriharikota on July 18, becoming the first private Indian company to reach orbit. The rocket’s orbital stage is powered by Skyroot’s 3D printed Raman engines, and the debut mission carried two CubeSats.

Australia

Additive Assurance partners with NTT DATA XAM to bring AMiRIS monitoring to Japan

Additive Assurance, a Melbourne-based quality assurance company, signed a distribution agreement with NTT DATA XAM Technologies to bring its AMiRIS in-situ monitoring platform to Japan. XAM, an EOS distributor in Japan since 1993, will resell the optical-emission monitoring system and integrate it with existing laser powder bed fusion fleets.