The December data for US machine tool orders, published by our colleagues at AMT, showed an extraordinary end to the year with the highest ever monthly total. This meant that 2025 saw an increase in orders of +22.5%. Demand for cutting tools was also strong (+17% higher than in December 2024) with the annual total +2.5% above the 2024 value.
The US Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) programme tracks orders in the US market, based on the reports from participants in the survey. With the exceptional result for December – this was +87% higher than November 2025 and +60% up on December 2024 for an all-time record monthly total – this boosted the growth rate which had been positive all year to +22.5%. It also meant that the 12-month rolling total was at its highest since October 2022 which is when the post-pandemic bounce was fading.
The AMT report notes that orders from contract machine shops – the largest customer sector in the US – increased by +19% in 2025, while aerospace saw a rise of +45%. This is postulated as a reason why the growth in order value was stronger than that for units as the machine shops purchase lower value items than aerospace customers which tend to buy high-value machinery. In between these sectors was growth of +22% in investment by the automotive industry.
The strong end to 2025 was spread across the country with all 6 regions seeing very significant month-on-month growth in orders. As a result, they all ended the year with an orders total that was higher than in 2024. These growth rates range from +49% in the South-Central area and +48% in the West, through +24% in the South-East, +16% in the North-East and +14% in the North-Central-East, down to just +1% in the North-Central-West.
The US Cutting Tool Market Report (CTMR) tracks orders for tooling on a similar basis. December was also a good month in this part of the market, especially when the impact of the holiday season is considered; this extended the run of months when the value was above $200 million to six (and nine of the twelve months of the year) but the annual total was only +2.5% higher than in 2024.
The cutting tool market report notes that aerospace and defence markets should remain strong and there is also likely to be a healthy demand from the energy and construction sectors as they deal with the rapid increase in data centres. It also suggests that the key to growth in 2026 – which is put at between +5% and +10% – is likely to be the automotive industry which was relatively flat in 2025 as a result of supply chain issues and fading demand for electric vehicles.
You can download the press releases for the two surveys from the AMT web-site at https://www.amtonline.org/topic/intelligence, with the CTMR release also published on the USCTI web-site at www.uscti.com (go to the News tab); alternatively, you can request either or both releases from MTA and we can make sure you get them when they are published each month. We have attached a set of charts tracking the rolling 12-month totals from these two surveys which you can download below.