Functional Printing Market - Size, Share, Industry Trends, and Forecasts (2025-2032)

By Material:

Based on the material, the market is segmented substrates and inks.

Trends in the material:

• Increasing adoption of metal substrates for use in automotive and manufacturing industries drives the market.
• Rising utilization of conductive inks that are electrically conductive for manufacturing of electronic products.

Substrates accounted for the largest revenue share in the market in 2024.

• The application of images, text, and designs onto printing substrates forms the basis of printing. This increasing use of substrates in creating robust components is a key factor in the functional printing market expansion.
• Factors like thickness and texture of the substrate can vary depending on the use case, like polyethylene terephthalate or polyethylene naphthalate. The various substrates available for different components has resulted in the market growth.
• For instance, Kodak uses Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) substrate for the printing of electronic components like antennas, circuit boards, and sensors.
• Thus, increasing advancements associated with substrates are driving the functional printing market.

Inks is anticipated to register the fastest growing CAGR during the forecast period.

• Different inks are used for different components like conductive inks are used in sensors and circuit boards because the ink can conduct electricity in the printed object which is driving the functional printing market demand
• There has been an increase in the use of dielectric inks for the manufacturing of touchscreens which are used in electronic devices.
• For instance, Henkel offers non-conductive dielectric ink for use in printed electronics like biosensors and flexible circuits.
• Thus, the growing ink segment is driving the functional printing market expansion during the forecast period.

By Technology:

Based on the technology, the market is segmented into inkjet printing, offset printing, gravure printing, screen printing, and others.

Trends in the technology:

• Rising adoption of screen printing for printing of functional components like displays and PCBs drives the market.
• Quicker printing processes and the ability to utilize materials with diverse viscosities are propelling the growth of the market.

Screen Printing accounted for the largest revenue share in the year 2024 and is anticipated to register the fastest growing CAGR during the forecast period.

• Screen Printing has witnessed growth due to the fact the process and materials used during development and production phase can be the same which can help in scaling the production process.
• Screen printing also offers a wide range of material viscosities which results in printing components that can have thicker layers. The ability to print thicker layers can be useful for certain components that require robustness like circuit boards.
• Moreover, market growth is being propelled by the increasing number of companies offering screen printers for high-volume electronics production.
• For instance, HMI printers offers fully automated screen printing systems for faster and precise setup, which can be used for the production of consumer electronics

• Therefore, as per the analysis, the screen printing segment has witnessed growing usage during the forecast period driving functional printing market.

By Application:

Based on the application, the market is segmented into sensors, displays, screen, antennas, RFID tags, and others.

Trends in the Application:

• Increasing use of functional printers for RFID tags for use in smart parking systems and asset management in warehouses drives the market.
• Factors including growing investments in printers used for printing screens for smartphones are driving the market trends.

RFID tags accounted for the largest revenue share in the market in 2024.

• RFID tags have experienced a growing need as many businesses today are moving to smart packaging for their products.
• There has been a growing demand for printers that support adaptive encoding technology that helps in selecting the optimum encode settings.
• Many printers used for functional printing support wireless connectivity for remote handling and real time visibility of the printers allowing for better management of the devices.
• For instance, Zebra offers printers that can be used for RFID tag printing such as ZT600 RFID industrial printer series that can be used for many applications like inventory management and asset tracking.
• Therefore, the increasing use of functional printers for RFID tags is driving the functional printing market growth.

Sensors is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR during the forecast period.

• Sensors form the backbone of Internet of Things and are used for monitoring different information like temperature and motion.
• Many businesses today offer printing solutions for functional sensors that can be used in cars, healthcare devices, and production phase of different products, driving the functional printing market trends.
• For instance, Quad industries offers printing solutions like simulation, design and manufacturing of sensors through its production plant for printed sensors and other wearable or flexible electronics.
• Thus, as per the analysis, the rising adoption of sensors has resulted in growing demand for printers, in turn, propelling the functional printing market size during the forecast period.

By End User:

Based on the end user, the market is segmented into automotive, healthcare, electronics, and others.

Trends in the end user:

• Increasing adoption of functional printers for printing of components in electronics segment like touchscreens, NFC chips, and displays drives the functional printing market size.
• There is a rising trend towards utilization of functional printers for healthcare monitoring, heart and brain monitoring, and physiotherapy using electrical signals released from printed components.

Electronics accounted for the largest revenue share of 34.12% in the year 2024.

• The dominance of electronics is attributed to the growing smartphones and wearable devices market that use printed functional electronic components.
• Growing use of different types of substrates to print displays that offer better graphic contrast which can be used in smartphones and computers.
• Moreover, many companies today printing OLED lightings and touch panels using techniques like flexographic printing and gravure printing, which has increased the functional printing market share.
• For instance, KYMC offers printing solutions like flexographic printing using different substrates to print OLED lightings, touch panels, and displays.
• Thus, as per the functional printing market analysis the growing electronics segment is driving the overall functional printing market trends.

Healthcare is anticipated to register the fastest CAGR during the forecast period.

• Hospitals and clinics have started using printed electronic sensors and other components for monitoring key health information like temperature of the patient in turn driving the overall functional printing market share.
• Printed biosensors have experienced a growing demand for various uses including tracking the electrical activity of a patient’s heart through ECG sensors.
• For instance, Henkel offers a printed patch that collects vital signs from a patient when attached to the body and sends the data to the cloud for remote healthcare monitoring.
• Thus, as per the analysis, the increasing use of functional printer solutions in healthcare for monitoring of health information through sensors and patches is driving the functional printing industry.