The advertising carving knife belongs to the core consumables of CNC advertising signs, mainly processing acrylic PVC、 Double color panel, aluminum-plastic panel, luminous character board, adhesive film, etc. The categories include single blade milling cutters, double-edged milling cutters, taper engraving cutters, flat bottom sharp cutters, round bottom cutters, V-cutters, PCD diamond cutters, etc. Downstream coverage includes advertising sign factories, graphic and text processing factories, luminous character factories, cultural and creative industries, and sheet metal nameplate processing. The industry presents a pattern of accelerated localization, high export growth, concentrated head production, outbreak of non-standard customization, and coexistence of low price chaos.
1、 Market Overview
Domestic market. The overall market size of advertising carving tools continues to grow, with sales expected to reach 182 million units in 2026, a year-on-year increase of 9.8%. The localization rate has reached 82.4%, and the share of imported brands continues to decline. The scale of downstream advertising signage industry is about 280 billion yuan, driving the annual consumption of nearly 95 million carving tools, with single blade and large spiral chip removal tools accounting for more than 80%, solving the pain points of acrylic hot melt adhesive knives and whitening wire drawing. Industrial clusters: The Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta together account for 68% of the market; Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian gather a large number of small and medium-sized tool factories; Chengdu Chongqing is an emerging growth market. Competitive landscape: Head concentration, central reshuffle, tail elimination, CR5 increased to 48.3%. The fluctuation of upstream tungsten powder raw materials directly affects the cost of hard alloy cutting tools; A large number of small and medium-sized factories engage in OEM and white label production, resulting in severe product homogenization and a low-end gross profit margin of less than 12%.
Export market conditions. The expected export volume for 2026 is 48.5 million units, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%; RCEP countries, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are the core incremental markets, with strong demand from Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia; High end coated cutting tools have a significant overseas premium; Domestic manufacturers’ cross-border e-commerce (Amazon, independent sites) shipments are rapidly increasing, mainly focusing on single edge milling cutters, taper engraving cutters, and engraving machine blades.
2、 Technology Hotspot Trends
Material iteration. Ultra fine grain hard alloys (WC particle size ≤ 0.4 μ m) have become the mainstream of high-end advertising knives, balancing hardness and fracture resistance; Common advertising ratios: WC89-90%, Co10-11%, HRA91-91.5, balanced acrylic without edge breakage, aluminum-plastic panel wear-resistant. Popularization of nano coatings: AlCrN and DLC low friction coatings reduce tool sticking and increase tool life by 30-40%; Ordinary TiN is gradually phasing out of high-end advertising scenes. PCD diamond carving knife: used for large quantities of acrylic and composite materials, with a lifespan several times that of tungsten steel knives, but with a high unit price and increased penetration rate in large advertising factories, the acceptance of small and medium-sized factories is limited.
Direction of tool structure. Large helix angle, strong chip removal single edge milling cutter: a necessary tool for processing acrylic thick plates, with upward chip removal to avoid melting and edge sticking; Divided into left/right rotation, suitable for different devices and boards. High precision taper knife/V-knife: slotting luminous characters, engraving small characters, with a dimensional tolerance requirement of ± 0.01mm, to prevent light leakage and uneven depth of the light strip. Explosion of non-standard customization: New advertising materials are constantly emerging (composite panels, foamed PVC, TPU/EVA flexible materials), and a large number of orders require customized blade length, angle, spiral angle, and stepped blade; Small and medium-sized tool factories regard non-standard sampling ability as their core competitiveness.
Changes in manufacturing mode. The popularity of five axis grinding machines has led to equipment upgrades in small and medium-sized factories in China, but there are still gaps in process debugging and coating technology. The emergence of the tool as a service model has led some top manufacturers to provide advertising factories with comprehensive tool matching, life management, and grinding and coating services, shifting from simply selling tools to consumable solutions.
3、 Existing pain points in the industry
In the low-end market, materials are falsely labeled, and some products do not meet the cobalt content and grain size standards, resulting in issues such as easy breakage, rapid wear, and coating detachment, disrupting the procurement market.
There is a lack of unified subdivision standards in the industry, and the execution scales of radial runout and cutting edge tolerance vary among different companies. There are significant differences in the machine performance of different brands and specifications of cutting tools.
Downstream advertising processing factory orders are mostly small batches with multiple varieties, frequent tool changes, and high tool wear. Small and medium-sized factories tend to purchase at low prices and have limited acceptance of high-end tools.
Fluctuations in raw material tungsten cobalt prices, profits of extrusion tool enterprises, and weak risk resistance of small and medium-sized manufacturers.
4、 Industry Outlook for the Second Half of 2026
In the domestic market, the demand for luminous characters, commercial beauty products, and outdoor signage remains stable, while the usage of thick acrylic and new composite panels is increasing. The demand for large spiral single blade milling cutters and high-precision taper cutters continues to rise; The industry is accelerating the elimination of low-quality white label products, and the trend towards branding is strengthening.
In terms of foreign trade, the expansion of Southeast Asia’s advertising industry continues to drive exports, leading to an increase in small batch orders at the cross-border B-end. Manufacturers with coating technology and fast non-standard sampling capabilities have a stronger competitive advantage.
Technical direction, further popularization and sinking of low friction nano coatings and ultrafine grain substrates; The proportion of non-standard customization services continues to increase; PCD cutting tools are gradually penetrating into large-scale advertising batch processing scenarios; The business of tool grinding and re grinding is gradually emerging, helping factories reduce the overall cost of consumables.
Competitive landscape, leading enterprises continue to integrate their supply chains, while small and medium-sized factories focus on segmented non-standard, cross-border e-commerce, and regional supporting services.
