According to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, the orders for metalworking machines amounted to a total of $429.2 million in June 2025. This represents an increase of 9.1% compared to May 2025 and an increase of 7.7% compared to June 2024. The total machine orders placed by June 2025 amounted to $2.52 billion, which is an increase of 13.7% compared to the first half of 2024.
The value of orders in the first half of 2025 is 21.2% above the average value of a year, while the units ordered in the first half of 2025 have decreased by 17.2%. This trend underscores the increasing importance that automated machines have played in the manufacturing technology market in recent months, with additional options and features increasing the order value. Such automated solutions enable companies to achieve additional productivity with a constant number of employees, thus closing the gap created by the weak upward trend in industrial production and the ongoing decline in employment.
• Contract manufacturing machine builders, the largest consumers of manufacturing technology, are showing signs of recovery after a backlog compared to the overall market during much of 2024. Both the value and the number of orders received have increased by 12% compared to the first half of 2025. Looking ahead, this customer segment may weaken further into the year, as a higher percentage of companies indicate that they do not plan to invest in additional machines in the next 12 months.
• After total investments exceeded $300 million in the second half of 2024, the aerospace sector continues to invest at a rapid pace, increasing the order value in the first half of 2025 by 6% to the highest level ever recorded. Although the news of a strike by some defense workers at Boeing could be interpreted as a negative sign, the recent strikes at the end of 2024 led to significant investments in manufacturing technology.
• The rising demand for electricity and the necessary facilities for generation and distribution has been a dominant trend for several months. The demand for machines from electrical equipment manufacturers has decreased by 19% compared to the first half of 2024, but the order value is still 24% above the average. In contrast, manufacturers of engines, turbines, and other power transmission equipment reported an increase in orders of 19% compared to the first half of 2024, as many data centers supplement their supply from municipal power grids with their own generators.
• Primary metal manufacturers have increased their orders for manufacturing technology by almost 50% compared to the first half of 2024, reaching the highest level since the second half of 2022. These increased investments occur against the backdrop of North America being one of the few regions increasing raw steel production, with executives reporting higher supply activity and growing order backlogs.
Uncertainty was the main economic driver in the first half of 2025, and there are hardly any signs in the first weeks of the second half of the year that this instability is easing. During AMT's Summer Economic Webinar on August 7, Oxford Economics revised its forecast upward and now expects moderate single-digit growth in machine orders in 2025. While this is an improvement over previous estimates, it signifies a significant decline in order activity that negates the 13.7% growth achieved in the first half of 2025. At the same time, ITR Economics forecasts strong consumption of cutting tools for the second half of 2025, which should raise order numbers for the entire year. At first glance, these forecasts seem contradictory, but the consumption of cutting tools typically peaks about two quarters after the peak of machine orders. As the year 2025 progresses, the health and trends of U.S. consumers and businesses will show whether the current momentum will continue – or whether cyclical peaks are in sight.
Source: AMT
