Copper has always been the awkward material of laser powder bed fusion, and a Chinese manufacturer is now betting it can be made routine. Addireen, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Gongda Laser Co., Ltd., has opened a facility in Zhanggong District, Ganzhou, with capacity for up to 50 metal AM systems per month, and has released the third generation of its green-laser platform, the XH-M350G-2HR. According to VoxelMatters, the plant marks the company's shift from prototype development to series production of green-laser equipment for copper and thermal management components.
Why green light matters for copper
The physics behind the product is the reason it exists. According to TCT Magazine, pure copper absorbs 532 nm light at roughly eight times the rate of conventional near-infrared wavelengths at room temperature. The higher coupling directs more of the available energy into the powder and reduces the reflected load on the optical system, which is the problem infrared lasers run into with copper. The XH-M350G-2HR uses two 532 nm green lasers, in 2x500 W or 2x1,000 W configurations, per VoxelMatters. TCT gives the focused spot as 40-60 um.
What the XH-M350G-2HR is
Per 3D Printing Industry, the machine has a 350 x 350 x 550 mm build volume. Two 500 W lasers are standard, with dual 1,000 W lasers as an option. Layer thicknesses of 30, 40 and 80 um are supported. The headline figure for pure copper is a build rate of up to 24.24 cm3/h at 40 um layers, though the outlet notes that real-world output will vary with part geometry, scan path, packing density and recoating time.
A note on that number: TCT's copy prints the rate as 4.24 cm3/h, which appears to be a typo. VoxelMatters and 3D Printing Industry both give 24.24 cm3/h, and we use that figure here.
Material properties claimed for the process are strong on paper. Addireen cites relative density up to 99.9%, thermal conductivity up to 400 W/(m.K) and electrical conductivity up to 101% IACS. These are manufacturer figures reported by the trade press, and we have not seen independent test data behind them. 3D Printing Industry adds that the results depend on powder condition, part orientation, feature size and process settings, with acceptance to be agreed on actual parts.
Beyond pure copper, VoxelMatters reports the system also processes CuCrZr, CuCrNb, CuSn10, AlSi10Mg and 316L, which makes it more than a single-material machine for shops that need to mix copper alloys with aluminum or stainless steel.
Hardware details aimed at repeatability
Most of the engineering claims concern consistency rather than raw speed. TCT lists bidirectional variable-speed recoating and an airflow variation of 3% across the build area. It also reports that the protective window stayed clean for more than 360 hours, a practical point because spatter and fume deposits on that window are a familiar cause of mid-build power loss. The XH-M350G series has logged more than 100,000 printing hours, TCT says, citing the company.
3D Printing Industry also reports Addireen's internal comparisons, which credit the recoater with a 48% improvement in recoating efficiency and the revised purging logic and chamber sealing with a 63% improvement in purging efficiency. Those are company figures, not independent measurements.
Process monitoring is part of the pitch. 3D Printing Industry reports that the machine logs laser power, chamber oxygen and inlet gas flow. For anyone who has had to justify a metal part to a quality department, that log is arguably as important as the build rate.
The production-batch claim
The most concrete demonstration is a single build. According to 3D Printing Industry, Addireen produced roughly 400 pure-copper optical-transceiver heat sinks on one build plate in a build of about 140 hours, with some local wall sections below 0.5 mm. The company reports a Cpk above 1.33 for dimensional consistency within the build, a common process-capability threshold in manufacturing, and calls the result the industry's first full-build-plate production batch of pure-copper transceiver components.
That is a company claim about priority, and we cannot verify it. The batch does show what the company wants buyers to focus on: many small, thin-walled, thermally demanding parts, printed at once and measured for statistical consistency, rather than a one-off showpiece. A quick division gives about 0.35 h of machine time per part, though that ignores powder handling, plate removal and post-processing.
The factory and the market behind it
VoxelMatters reports that the Ganzhou plant can build up to 50 metal AM systems per month. That is a capacity ceiling, not a production figure, and none of the three outlets says how many systems Addireen has actually sold or shipped. The only related number is from TCT, which says Addireen's production network includes more than 100 metal additive manufacturing systems and over 20 post-processing and quality-assurance systems. That describes the company's own service network, not units sold to customers.
TCT also reports that Addireen launched AddireenNow, an automated quotation platform. Users upload a CAD model, choose material, quantity, finishing and inspection requirements, and receive an instant quotation and estimated lead time, after which engineers review the file. For buyers who want parts rather than a machine, that is the alternative route.
The target applications are consistent across the coverage. VoxelMatters lists AI-server cold plates, heat exchangers with built-in cooling channels, optical-transceiver heat sinks, induction coils and aerospace thermal components.
The common thread is thermal management. Copper's conductivity is hard to beat, but the geometries that make a cold plate efficient, such as thin fins and internal channels, are hard to machine. That is the gap additive manufacturing is trying to fill, and Addireen is building capacity to meet it.
What It Means for Makers
This is an industrial machine, and nobody reading this will put one in a garage. The relevance for makers is indirect but real.
First, it is another sign that pure-copper powder bed fusion is moving from demonstration toward serial production. If green-laser systems become common at service bureaus, small-batch copper parts such as heat sinks, induction coils and thermal fixtures may get cheaper and easier to order. Note that Addireen has not disclosed pricing for the XH-M350G-2HR, which is sold on a quote basis, and we have no pricing for parts made on it.
Second, the announcement shows where the competitive pressure is. A manufacturer building a plant sized for 50 systems a month suggests suppliers of established infrared systems may face a determined competitor in copper, though the plant's actual output is unreported.
Third, read the numbers with care. The build rate, density and conductivity figures come from the company and were relayed by trade outlets. The 24.24 cm3/h rate is quoted at 40 um layers, and one outlet's copy disagrees with the others. The Cpk claim applies within a single build. Anyone considering ordering parts should ask for batch-to-batch data and post-processing details, since none of that appears in the coverage we reviewed.
Finally, the design lesson carries to any process: walls under 0.5 mm, printed 400 at a time, only make sense if the machine can hold conditions steady for 140 hours. Logging laser power, oxygen and gas flow is how a shop proves it did.
