New U.S. orders for metal cutting, forming and fabrication machinery (manufacturing technology) totaled $1.007 billion in September 2026 — a 38.0% jump from August and a whopping 101.7% spike year-over-year. The surge followed August’s 21.0% monthly increase and 36.3% YoY gain.

That’s according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) and its monthly U.S. Manufacturing Technology

Powered by orders placed at the biennial International Manufacturing Technology Show — held Sept. 14-19 in Chicago — the value of orders placed in September set a record for monthly investment in manufacturing technology, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology Orders (USMTO) report. Orders were 22.5% above the previous record set in December 2025. Meanwhile, the count of new machines ordered in September 2026 was the highest since an earlier IMTS in September 2014.

September 2026 was the seventh straight month that orders exceeded $500 milion — the longest streak of investment recorded by the USMTO.

Through September, year-to-date orders reached $5.76 billion for a 45.0% increase over the first three quarters of 2025.

For recent historical context, AMT said growth in the average value of manufacturing technology orders began to exceed the rate of inflation in October 2021, and that while inflation still plays a role, a far greater driver is the increased appetite for automation among companies investing in manufacturing technology. In September, that growth began to moderate as the number of units ordered grew at the fastest rate since July 2024, relative to the change in value.

“A one-month deviation in the trend could be attributed to customers with a lower appetite for automation making a larger share of monthly investment,” the November USMTO report read. “Should this trend continue, it may reflect growing capacity constraints among machinery manufacturers, pushing the buying decision toward the option with the shortest lead time, which could forego some added features if it results in extended delivery times.”

The latest USMTO report emphasized the following points:

• Manufacturing technology investments from contract machine shops, the largest customer industry, continued to accelerate in September 2026. Job shop investments also set a record in September 2026, nearly 25% above the previous record, which was set in August 2026. Units ordered were at the highest level since September 2014.
• Manufacturers of aerospace products and parts tend to order some of the most complex and automated solutions available on the market. This trend continued to accelerate in September 2026, when both the value of orders and the number of machines were at record levels, rising 5.0% and 8.9%, respectively, above the previous peak in December 2025. 
• Orders from automotive manufacturers were at the highest level since July 2020, amid the frenzied recovery in sales and subsequent supply chain disruptions after the COVID-19 recession.
• Orders from manufacturers of automotive transmissions have pulled back after a few months of elevated investment needed to move away from battery electric vehicle production toward traditional ICE and hybrid powertrains.
• Aside from a slight uptick in May 2026, motor vehicle stamping has been relatively muted in the post-COVID environment, where manufacturers are introducing fewer variants in body design each year.

“Orders of manufacturing technology were elevated in September 2026 by the rising tide of IMTS,” the report read in its go-forward outlook. “If the insight from MTForecast holds true, manufacturing technology orders will remain elevated for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027, albeit with some significant variation in the mix of customer industries from month to month. The resilience of demand in the current expansion, which began in September 2024, can be attributed to the increased appetite for automation, demand from industries with long backlogs and lead times, and defense production, which should be sustained through any downturns in aggregate demand. Even if overall capital investment declines in the near future, the current level of demand for machined parts and heightened levels of capacity utilization could ensure that a good number of leads found at IMTS 2026 will convert into additional orders in the coming months.”