Zhang Jinjian in Conversation with Wang Wenbin: In the AI Era, 3D Printing Activates the Vitality of Smart Manufacturing

"Ten years to forge a sword, and the vitality to see it through."

3D printing is moving from dream to reality. Imagine a future where you can use a printer to manufacture any physical object you can imagine — even things that don't exist in the real world today. This is the future that 3D printing technology is constructing for us.

At the Waves 2025 conference on June 11–12, Oasis Capital founding partner Jinjian Zhang and Wang Wenbin, founder and CEO of Oasis portfolio company Polymaker (Boli New Materials), engaged in a compelling conversation.

They discussed the history and evolution of 3D printing technology, its prospects in the AI era, and the transformation of Wang — a scientist by training — into an entrepreneur. Of course, Oasis's core value of "participating in and nurturing vitality" animated the dialogue, prompting Wang to share considerable insights from his entrepreneurial journey.

The following is an edited transcript of their conversation:

Part 01

3D Printing Has Moved Beyond the "Year One" Cycle Into Everyday Applications

Jinjian Zhang: Hello everyone, I'm Jinjian Zhang from Oasis Capital. You probably know Oasis for two things. First, we've been one of the most aggressive investors in China's AI and robotics sectors over the past two to three years — we've backed numerous large language model companies, agent startups, and embodied intelligence firms.

Second, since 2019, Oasis has defined its mission as "participating in and nurturing vitality." Because we believe that in this era, what matters most isn't experience, resources, or so-called connections. What matters most to entrepreneurs in this era is the vitality we're born with.

Oasis has always sought out the most vital founders of our time. We believe this era is fertile ground — when every individual can let their vitality flourish, this era will naturally become an oasis. That's where our name comes from.

Today we're honored to have Dr. Wang Wenbin of Polymaker with us: an exceptionally vital founder who will share the current state of smart manufacturing and the 3D printing industry.

Wang Wenbin: Hello everyone, I'm Wang Wenbin from Polymaker. Unlike traditional 3D printing companies, we're a materials-centric 3D printing firm. Our full name is Suzhou Polymaker New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. — a full-chain 3D printing company built around materials.

3D printing may not be the hottest topic on everyone's lips today, but catalyzed by AI, the entire industry — including our company — is undergoing some notable changes.

I'm delighted to be here to share what changes I see happening in "smart" manufacturing from my perspective.

Zhang: Thank you, Wenbin. There's a saying that goes around — that every year is "year one" for 3D printing.

Wang: Yes, people say that every year.

Zhang: It's an interesting perspective. Because I think a lot of narratives are constructed retrospectively. Before we invested in AI, I did something — I bought and read through every issue of Computer Times and Popular Software from 1990 to 2020, three decades worth. I wanted to see what the cover stories said, how people back then thought about the future. I discovered two industries that were always in "year one": 3D printing and the metaverse.

So after all these years, what changes are actually happening in 3D printing?

Wang: If we're talking about 3D printing being in "year one," I think there are two dimensions. One is that technologically, many problems are gradually being solved at this point. The other is that expectations for 3D printing remain very high — there's still enormous room for growth, whether in integration with other industries or as standalone everyday products entering people's lives.

The technical term for 3D printing is additive manufacturing, a discipline invented around 1984. In human history, before 1984, we only had two methods of creation: subtractive manufacturing, where you alter an object's physical form from the outside, like today's CNC machining; or formative manufacturing, where you reshape the material you add, which is injection molding.

So what changed in manufacturing after 1984?

We used to rely on engineers drawing blueprints, bit by bit — extremely inefficient. As computing technology developed, especially with CAD modeling software, drawing became highly efficient. Past manufacturing methods could no longer satisfy production demands, so with computer software and materials science, additive manufacturing was born.

The inventor of this technology was Chuck Hull, who like Edison later entered the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame.

People were very optimistic at the time — we had a new way of creating things, capable of producing what we imagined. But the reality was that this creation method had obvious flaws: slow speed, poor material properties, high costs.

You have to understand that ten years ago, if a domestic polymer material for 3D printing didn't shatter when dropped on the floor, that was cause for celebration. The materials themselves lacked adequate properties, and the technology couldn't upgrade quickly enough, so 3D printing could never truly enter our lives. It remained a tool for prototyping before mold development in the R&D phase.

Now, with advances in materials science and manufacturing capabilities, we're gradually seeing 3D printed products enter everyday life. For instance, the shoes I'm wearing today are 3D printed — I can walk 20,000 steps a day without fatigue.

Part 02

From Virtual to Physical: 3D Printing Will Become the Sole Manufacturing Method of the AI Era

Zhang: We now understand 3D printing's past. After so many years of development, we're seeing companies like Bambu Lab growing explosively overseas, and Polymaker with its deep focus on materials science. We're also seeing diverse products like shoes and helmets. Even luxury houses like Prada are experimenting with replacing soles with your 3D printed materials. From your industry perspective, how far will 3D printing develop in the future?

Wang: To discuss 3D printing's future, I first want to introduce my discipline. I studied polymer science — its English name is Polymer, which is also our company's English name.

In fact, polymer science emerged in 1920. Even today, its processing methods haven't changed dramatically from 100 years ago — mold-making still requires injecting thermoplastic polymers through screws to create the mold.

But the difficulty of translating materials science into industrial application lies in the fact that polymer science is inherently interdisciplinary. Different material properties, synthesis difficulties, and process parameter stability all profoundly affect real-world industrial application. In manufacturing, every additional step means an additional layer of uncertainty.

With the arrival of the 3D printing era, the steps from R&D to processing that I mentioned can be dramatically reduced. We found that as long as you develop and construct an effective digital model, you can produce it directly through a printer with one click — no need for the cumbersome mold-making, injection molding, and breaking into separate stages. It's precisely this characteristic that helped us achieve industrial落地 more quickly in this industry.

So to answer your question about how far 3D printing's future can develop — I believe its advantage lies in making material applications no longer a barrier, enabling everyone to shift from consumer to creator through 3D printing manufacturing methods, designing and customizing everything they can imagine. This is the fundamental change we can see 3D printing bringing in the near future.

Zhang: We're already seeing AI bring many changes to our lives. I remember in 2023, there was a course on Dedao. Luo Yonghao asked me, what do you think AI is? At the time we said we thought AI was an intern — because interns also hallucinate, interns also need your patience, interns also make mistakes, and good interns don't necessarily stay. So I remember saying at a New Year's event that AI is an intern.

Recently a friend asked me: Jinjian, two more years have passed, what do you think has changed about AI? I said I discovered AI isn't the intern — I discovered I'm the intern. Today there's a misconception in AI entrepreneurship: many people use AI to assist humans. I think that's wrong — it should be humans assisting AI. Future workflows and production flows will be organized around AI; humans are just components within AI.

After the industrial age, we entered a new supply era where supply was scarce. So whoever created supply created value.

In a future artificial intelligence era, supply will be unlimited. In the past, if you liked Cristiano Ronaldo, you'd follow his matches; when he wasn't playing, you could only follow gossip about him. Now you can constantly generate all kinds of photos and news about him, real and fake.

What value are we creating amid unlimited supply? I believe humanity's only value is creating demand. So going forward, whoever creates demand creates value. But humanity's entire supply chain system is organized around supply, not demand.

In recent years, more people have been paying attention to 3D printing. Conversely, we're seeing AI companies that can one-click generate all kinds of small objects — but these objects ultimately need corresponding supply chain systems to support their physical realization. So in the AI era, what role will 3D printing play?

Wang: When we first started in 3D printing, it was rather lonely. Why lonely? Because the mainstream of manufacturing still revolved around "molds" — they practically constituted the core logic of traditional polymer manufacturing. When we were in school, our professors taught us something important: "The mold is the mother of industry." Has anyone heard this?

This logic emphasizes scale and standardization. Companies must first research, then define the product, then make the mold, and finally achieve mass production. The high cost and high barrier of molds inherently determine that only products with sufficient volume are worth manufacturing. So in such a system, 3D printing's on-demand customization philosophy was difficult to accept. We wanted to integrate into traditional supply chains, but the reality was: once a product had volume, everyone's first reaction was still to make a mold. As you noted, Jinjian, 3D printing has always been in "year one" because no one truly "needed" us.

But in the AI era, especially these past two years, I've discovered a massive change. AI has significantly enhanced human design capabilities — can't model? No problem, AI can generate and define for you. As more people begin expressing their creativity, personalized demand is truly being unleashed. These demands can't be met by traditional manufacturing systems, but they're exactly what 3D printing excels at. I now have a somewhat extreme conclusion: 3D printing is the connector between the virtual digital world and the real physical world, and will become the sole manufacturing method of the future AI era.

Part 03

From Laboratory to Market: A Materials Scientist's Manufacturing Breakthrough

Zhang: We have a lot of internal discussions about this, because we keep saying people are underestimating the technological revolution AI will bring. I think people are still underestimating AI today — what AI brings may very well be a social revolution. Human pride lies in believing we have many special qualities, but from today's perspective, humans are essentially just large models too, no different.

We believe AI may develop faster than we anticipate. Everyone is a creator — it's just that before, if you wanted to create but couldn't draw or model, you couldn't do it. Now the barriers to creation are being lowered. You can foresee a future where every household or community has 3D printing stations — you have an idea or need, you go print it and it's done.

Today we're seeing printed shoes and joints. We previously invested in a very hot robotics company — everyone was fighting to get in. Later we introduced Wenbin to them, and that founder said: I must take Oasis's money, because he's always wanted to add a skeleton and meniscus between bones for his robots — only 3D printed materials can guarantee the softness required.

As AI technology develops, 3D printing may become the interface linking AI and the physical world. We previously could hardly imagine that today 3D printed shoes could sell 100,000 pairs a month, including future applications in embodied intelligence. New production methods are constantly emerging.

Coming back to you, Wenbin — you're a scientist by training. What were you doing before founding Polymaker?

Wang: I've always been in research, as you can probably tell.

Zhang: How many years of research?

Wang: From school through later on, I've always been in research.

Zhang: How many years since Polymaker was founded?

Wang: Polymaker was founded in February 2017, so it's been 8 years now. Our industry is one that requires time.

Zhang: You're a scientist. Many companies we invest in also have scientist founders. There's often debate about whether scientists are reliable — business society is brutal, maybe scientists aren't suited for it. Today, I think Polymaker is successful. In your transition from scientist to entrepreneur or businessman, what changed in your mindset? And how did you achieve this transformation?

Wang: Returning to the origin point of why I founded Polymaker — I previously worked in research at a state-owned enterprise research institute, as director of polymer research. In 2017, I felt 3D printing was particularly interesting — it's a revolution in materials processing science. Previously, 3D printing couldn't achieve high-performance materials or ultra-high-speed printing. Later, thinking from the materials perspective, with our materials R&D support, we could fully realize high-performance materials at ultra-high speeds, so I threw myself into this without hesitation.

When I first founded this company, my goal wasn't necessarily to make a certain amount of money. My idea was to make high-performance 3D printing materials.

Returning to your point about the difference between being a scientist or technologist versus an entrepreneur — everyone knows research requires innovation, and theoretical innovation in your discipline. If you succeed once in 100 attempts, that's considered success — you can publish papers, apply for more funding, do more research. The logic of research is surpassing yourself, a connection with the individual. If my understanding of something today is deeper than yesterday, or I conceive a new theory, that's success in research.

Standing in the entrepreneur's role, whatever you make must succeed whether it's once or 10,000 times — this is completely different from research. Many things we use daily rely on theoretical achievements from ten or even decades ago. The logic of enterprise is demand satisfaction — satisfying society's needs, satisfying everyone's needs. It's actually about connections between people: either reducing your costs or increasing your efficiency, until you become needed. That's business success.

When I one day understood this logic, I felt many things became simpler.

Zhang: You say this lightly. Although 3D printing is tech manufacturing, and we can talk about lofty things, actual business is very concrete. I know the past few years haven't been easy. Now Polymaker is growing fast, and in recent years has gained recognition from the state and various brands. I know besides Prada, quite a few other luxury brands have come to visit and explore collaboration.

Wang: In the luxury sector, we're now working with LV, Dior, Prada, and more mass-market consumer brands like Skechers — they're all beginning to use our printing technology.

Zhang: I remember when a brand came for an audit and factory visit, they felt our factory conditions weren't that advanced. Luxury brands coming to an industrial manufacturing park, and you're getting them to adopt new technology, gaining global brand recognition. Behind this you still have many problems to solve, much information to communicate. How did you solve this?

Wang: As Jinjian just mentioned about our external partnerships — actually, most 3D printed shoes in this industry today are made by us. Our current achievements come only after countless problems were solved.

Whether scientists or engineers, we all hold the front lines. Many problems must be solved immediately when encountered.

Let me share two problems from our early R&D: First, when you make materials heavier, the foot can't compress them; when you make them lighter, they can't provide effective support — you need appropriate structures to achieve rebound. Second, we couldn't even get both feet to bear weight evenly, because printed materials might follow normal distribution — one foot hard, one foot soft; one foot long, one foot short.

Later we did many experiments, staying up late with the team. When everyone was exhausted, suddenly inspiration struck — we discovered the key influencing factor, and in one go raised yield rate from 70% to over 95%.

Now when I look back at Edison inventing the lightbulb, I can more deeply understand what he felt. He tested over 2,000 materials, even trying beard hair, wood, various metals, before finally discovering tungsten was most suitable.

When our enterprise does technology application, especially with these creative technologies where there's little to reference, often it's quantitative change leading to qualitative change. Through continuous accumulation and experimentation, suddenly one day you discover the key influencing factor, and gradually things come together.

Part 04

The Vitality of Made in China: Grown From Passion and Slow Craft

Zhang: In the field of 3D printed monocoque shoes, there are probably only two suppliers worldwide now: one is America's Carbon, whose founder is a three-academy academician, and the other is China's Polymaker. What I find remarkable is that Cole Haan, a leather shoe brand over 100 years old, for the first time transformed its shoe soles into 3D printed materials because of Polymaker — and now has very large global shipment volumes. I think these overseas brands are very clear about what the right technology is and how to choose the best global partners.

Polymaker was founded a bit later than Carbon, and this technology was previously monopolized by America. We started from zero. When I visited Polymaker's office, a group of people were frantically grinding away — I really admire Chinese enterprises. We have executives who are PhDs or well-known overseas professors, working very late. What to do? The company pays for beds. Later, to save time, I remember they even set up a small restaurant across from the company, saving time to do R&D at the company.

Because of the efforts of countless Chinese enterprises behind the scenes, China has global innovation capability. I think DeepSeek punctured a window — for the first time letting the world see that Chinese enterprises have global innovation capability. But actually, across all industries, we have countless companies leading global innovation.

I mentioned earlier that Polymaker has been around a long time — seven or eight years. Revenue and performance high growth only appeared in the past two years. Not quite ten years to forge a sword, but five or six years. How did you endure through this?

Wang: From my perspective, moving products from laboratory to pilot production, to mass production, to customer acceptance really requires a process. As you mentioned, our past innovation was "fast innovation" — often based on existing market demand, leveraging Chinese engineering capabilities to make improvements on existing foundations. A large amount of innovation in our past era occurred in this environment.

For me personally, time actually passed very quickly doing this — it wasn't a very painful process. And we found things getting better and better. At the time, we didn't know what clear applications our products would have in the domestic market. We only knew that making products a bit better meant they could potentially find applications in more and more fields. The early years were tough, but because we believed in what we saw, we got through it happily.

Zhang: Because Oasis has always emphasized vitality. From scientist to entrepreneur, what do you think vitality is?

Wang: Passion from within — that's how I understand vitality. If you love something, you'll enjoy the process of doing it.

If your goal is making money, you'll find this thing difficult, slow — better to do something else. But I do this because of love itself. The goal is doing better today than yesterday — this is what can unleash vitality.

I'm very grateful to shareholders like Oasis. In the early years when our revenue changes weren't very significant, it was love at first sight. When Oasis invested in us, I didn't explain exactly how I would do things — I only described what I wanted to do. Jinjian and team felt it was meaningful, so they invested. This was something that happened at the end of 2020.

So my understanding of vitality may really be love and persistence for something — results are just a matter of time. Of course, we were also very fortunate to join hands with Oasis that year.

Zhang: Thank you, Wenbin, for sharing. I hope everyone can find their passion and protect their own vitality!

Image source: On-site photography

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