Chinese Startup Dewu Claims 45% Cost Cut on Metal 3D Printing

A Post-Processing Problem

Metal 3D printing has a well-known cost problem: the actual print is only half the bill. Post-processing -- removing parts from build plates, CNC polishing, surface finishing -- routinely consumes 60% to 70% of the total production cost. For companies trying to make metal additive manufacturing viable at scale, that math has always been the biggest obstacle.

Suzhou Dewu Technology, a startup founded in 2024, thinks it has solved it. The company has closed a pre-Series A funding round led by GSR United Capital and Jintou Zhiyuan, with capital measured in tens of millions of yuan. Its pitch is unusually specific: Dewu's ultra-high-precision selective laser melting process pushes surface roughness down to Ra 1.5 micrometers, which means many parts are usable straight off the build plate.

How They Do It

The key is laser spot size and layer thickness. Dewu's system uses an extremely small laser spot paired with ultra-thin powder layers, which together let the machine print walls just 0.03 millimeters thick. That level of detail means surface finish is far closer to a finished part than what standard SLM systems produce.

The result: post-processing costs drop from roughly 70% of total part cost to between 10% and 20%. Dewu founder Wang Zhou puts the overall savings at 45% compared to a conventional metal AM workflow. On a 100-yuan part, traditional production costs 30 yuan to print plus 70 yuan for post-processing. Dewu's approach runs about 40 yuan to print plus 15 yuan for finishing, for a total of 55 yuan.

Who Is Buying

The company says leading overseas consumer electronics manufacturers started approaching them in the second half of 2025. Consumer electronics is an especially price-sensitive market, where even small per-unit savings multiply quickly across millions of parts. Medical device makers are also interested, since Ra 1.5 micrometers meets biocompatible surface standards for some implant and surgical applications.

Dewu is already working toward multi-laser large-format equipment to bring printing costs down further as volumes grow. The company frames its business as selling a production-ready solution rather than a printer.