Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Metal Additive Manufacturing (MAM) has emerged as one of the most transformative manufacturing technologies, offering unprecedented design flexibility, material efficiency, and production capabilities across industries such as aerospace, medical devices, automotive, energy, and semiconductor manufacturing. Despite rapid technological advancements, the future development of the MAM industry remains influenced by multiple interrelated factors, including technological innovation, economic feasibility, market demand, sustainability requirements, and government policies. Identifying and prioritizing these critical factors is therefore essential for supporting strategic decision-making by manufacturers, investors, researchers, and policymakers. (Liu & Chen, 2024) This study aims to identify the key drivers influencing the future development of the metal additive manufacturing industry using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Based on an extensive literature review and expert consultation, a hierarchical evaluation framework is developed comprising five major dimensions: technological advancement, economic competitiveness, market potential, environmental sustainability, and policy support. Several evaluation criteria are established under each dimension to reflect the comprehensive characteristics of the industry. Expert judgments collected from professionals in additive manufacturing, industrial equipment, academia, and manufacturing sectors are analyzed through pairwise comparisons to determine the relative importance of each criterion. The consistency of expert evaluations is verified using the consistency ratio (CR), ensuring the reliability of the decision-making process. (Park & Kim, 2024) The findings are expected to provide a prioritized ranking of the critical factors shaping the future of metal additive manufacturing, offering valuable insights for technology developers, equipment manufacturers, industrial users, and government agencies. The proposed AHP framework also provides a systematic decision-support model that can be adapted to evaluate emerging manufacturing technologies under rapidly changing industrial environments. This research contributes to both the academic literature on technology assessment and the practical development strategies of the global metal additive manufacturing industry. (Wohlers, 2024)</p>