According to the "U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report" published by AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology, the order intake for metalworking machines amounted to a total of 488.9 million US dollars in February 2026. The value of orders for manufacturing technology increased by 10.7% compared to January 2026 and by 27.4% compared to February 2025. The total value of orders for 2026 up to and including February has reached 930.5 million US dollars, which is 26% above the value of the first two months of 2025.
Demand for manufacturing technology entered a recovery phase in the last quarter of 2024 after nearly three years of decline. However, while order values increased, the total number of units grew significantly slower. This divergence between value and unit trends continues into 2026, with the total number of ordered units remaining roughly unchanged compared to the first two months of 2025. This bifurcation can generally be attributed to increased demand for automation, changing customer industries, and ongoing market distortions due to government policy and geopolitical unrest.
Contract manufacturers, the largest customer group for manufacturing technology, increased their order value in the first two months of 2025 by more than a quarter, while the number of units only increased by a modest single-digit percentage. Contract manufacturers typically increase their orders in response to the need for additional capacity, and the number of ordered units is closely related to the value of these orders.
Conversely, manufacturers of aerospace equipment tend to have above-average order values compared to the number of units ordered due to the highly specialized workflows required in their processes. In the first two months of 2026, orders from the aerospace sector were 233% higher than those from 2025, and the quantities were 125% higher.
In recent months, demand for manufacturing technology has increased as companies learned to cope with heightened uncertainty, and the costs of inaction grew. These confident investments continued in the first two months of 2026 despite fluctuating political conditions. However, with the outbreak of war in Iran in the last days of February, it remains to be seen whether companies will continue to invest at this high pace. On one hand, additional military spending will flow into an aerospace and defense sector that is already struggling with capacity constraints; on the other hand, further changes in the customs environment could slow additional investments.
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