Keypoint Intelligence Says Wide Format Is Growing — But Not Where You Think

Wide-format printing has spent the past several years operating as the quiet growth engine of the print industry. While commercial print volumes contract and office printing faces existential pressure from digital workflows, wide format has maintained a trajectory that other segments envy. Signage, vehicle wraps, wall coverings, interior décor, packaging prototyping — the applications keep expanding and the technology keeps improving.

Keypoint Intelligence, the industry's primary independent research and forecasting firm, released two new reports in late January 2026 that put numbers behind this trajectory. The 2024–2029 Global Wide Format Print Forecast and the companion 2024–2029 Wide Format Value of Print Forecast examine how print volume, technology adoption, and the dollar value of print applications are shifting across regions and production environments.

The headline finding: the wide-format market continues to grow, but the nature of that growth has changed. It is no longer driven by broad expansion across all categories. It is concentrating in specific technologies and specific applications, and understanding where growth is landing matters as much as knowing that growth exists.

The technology shift

Ink technology is the clearest marker of where the market is heading. Keypoint Intelligence's earlier forecasting work documented a steady migration away from solvent-based inks toward resin/latex and UV-curable formulations. That migration has accelerated. Resin and latex systems offer faster drying, lower emissions, and broader substrate compatibility. UV-curable inks cure instantly under UV light exposure, enabling immediate lamination, cutting, and finishing — critical for operations chasing faster turnaround times.

Solvent is not dead, but its share is declining as print service providers replace aging equipment with systems that meet tighter environmental standards and enable more versatile production. The shift is not ideological — it is economic. Shops that invested in resin/latex or UV systems are producing a wider range of applications, winning more jobs, and operating with lower waste and fewer regulatory constraints.

Sublimation printing, particularly for textiles and soft signage, has also grown enough that Keypoint Intelligence added it as a distinct category in its forecast updates. Dye-sublimation transfers ink to polyester fabrics through heat, producing vibrant, durable output for flags, banners, retail displays, and apparel. The convergence of wide-format and textile printing is one of the defining trends of this forecast period.

Growth is selective, not universal

The critical insight from the new reports is that wide-format growth is concentrating rather than spreading. Not every technology, not every application, and not every region is growing at the same rate. Performance is increasingly determined by what a print operation produces and the technology it uses, rather than simply participating in the wide-format market.

This is a meaningful shift in how the industry's leading analyst firm describes the market. For years, the story was growth across the board — more printers, more square meters, more applications. The new story is growth in the right places, with the right technology, for the right applications. Print service providers that are not aligned with where growth is concentrating will not benefit from the overall market expansion simply by being in wide format.

Automation and workflow

Keypoint Intelligence's broader 2026 industry outlook identified intelligent automation and robotic automation as two of the defining trends for the year ahead. In wide format specifically, this manifests as accelerating adoption of web-to-print systems, digital management information systems, and production tracking software.

The driver is operational: print service providers need to produce more work with fewer people. Labor shortages remain a persistent challenge across the printing industry, and wide format is no exception. Automation is not replacing skilled operators — it is compensating for the inability to hire enough of them, while simultaneously reducing errors and waste that cut into already tight margins.

Robotic automation is moving from experimental pilots to structured early adoption. Autonomous mobile robots for material handling and pallet movement are seeing the fastest uptake because they integrate quickly and provide measurable return on investment. Cobots — collaborative robots that work alongside human operators — are gaining traction in finishing and kitting operations that require precision and consistency.

Keypoint Intelligence's software investment survey found that nearly half of in-plant respondents were planning to invest in robotics, though most had not yet deployed it. The gap between interest and deployment means 2026 is likely the year the industry moves from curiosity to meaningful early-stage adoption.

What this means for print professionals

For print service providers, the message from these forecasts is strategic: the wide-format market is rewarding specialization and technology investment, not just participation. Shops running modern ink systems, pursuing high-value application areas, and investing in workflow automation are positioned to capture growth. Shops running older technology on commodity applications face margin compression even as the overall market expands.

For photographers and creative professionals whose work ends up on wide-format output — wall art, exhibition prints, retail displays, event graphics — the forecast is positive. The technology producing that output is getting better, faster, and more environmentally sustainable. Print quality continues to improve as ink formulations advance and color management systems mature. The wide-format segment's health means that physical print as a creative medium has a robust production infrastructure supporting it for the foreseeable future.

For vendors and equipment manufacturers, Keypoint Intelligence's emphasis on selective growth is a signal to focus product development and sales strategies on the specific technologies and applications where growth is landing. The era of broad-based wide-format expansion that rewarded every participant equally is transitioning to a more disciplined market that rewards the right investments in the right capabilities.

The wide-format print market is growing. It is just growing up.