Former SpaceX engineers have secured $14 million in funding from Nvidia and Boeing to scale up a groundbreaking 3D metal printing process developed by their company, Freeform. Co-founders Erik Palitsch (CEO) and TJ Ronacher (president), who previously worked on SpaceX’s Merlin engines, identified key limitations of existing metal additive printing techniques — poor quality, slow speed, and high costs — and have set out to overcome these hurdles with a more advanced, AI-driven approach.
Freeform’s innovation lies in creating a closed-loop printing system that uses real-time monitoring and AI to control the metal printing process with precision, significantly improving both the quality and speed of production. The company’s system incorporates high-speed computer vision feedback, processed using custom-built FPGAs and GPUs, enabling real-time adjustments during the printing process.
The AI, trained on a vast and continuously growing metal additive dataset, ensures the system adapts to any variability, maintaining consistency and accuracy. This technological stack is being applied as a service model, allowing customers to benefit from the innovation without needing to purchase expensive printing machinery themselves.
Freeform’s unique capabilities, particularly its massive dataset and real-time AI monitoring, have attracted attention from industries such as aerospace, automotive, industrial, and energy. With the funding, the company plans to expand its team, develop even faster printing systems, and scale its operations to meet growing demand, including producing parts for Formula 1 cars and rocket engines.
Nvidia’s investment offers access to advanced hardware, while Boeing will assist Freeform through the supplier qualification process and may eventually purchase parts produced through this method.
