The order intake for metalworking machines, measured by the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, amounted to a total of 392.7 million US dollars in May 2025. This was a decrease of 11.8% compared to April 2025 and an increase of 2.7% compared to May 2024. Machine orders in 2025 totaled 2.09 billion dollars by May, an increase of 15% compared to the first five months of 2024.
While orders for manufacturing technology declined in March and April, the market continued to show signs of recovery, as each month in 2025 performed better than the same month in 2024. The value of orders in May 2025 was 16% higher than the average May. Looking at the number of units ordered, there is a significantly lower growth rate. By May 2025, the number of units ordered was 4.7% above the first five months of 2024, still the highest positive growth rate since 2021.
Manufacturers of engines, turbines, and power transmissions made the largest investments in new metalworking machines since February 2023. This is likely a continuation of the above-average trend in contract awards in electrical engineering, attributed to the increased grid demand from data centers.
Machine orders from the aerospace industry, which recorded the highest monthly order intake in March 2023, fell back to their typical monthly average in May 2025 but remain on an upward trend. By May 2025, order intake for aircraft and aircraft parts outside the defense sector increased by 164% compared to 2024. The integration of these new orders into production plans could further exacerbate the rising capacity utilization of aerospace companies without additional investments in manufacturing technology.
Orders for manufacturing technology remained relatively strong in April and May 2025, despite the economic uncertainty caused by the irregular implementation of customs policy during these months. The recently passed tax and spending policy package will provide some degree of certainty to all companies and includes important incentives for manufacturers, which could lead to additional machine investments in the second half of 2025.
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