Tekna Turns Profitable as Additive Manufacturing Powder Demand Grows

Metal powder supplier Tekna has reached a profitability inflection point that would have seemed unlikely a few years ago. The company reported Q2 2026 revenue of CAD 10.6 million, up 18 percent year over year, and delivered its fourth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. That marks a structural shift for a business that spent years investing in plasma technology and powder qualification programs.

Materials Drive the Turnaround

The turnaround is being led by Tekna's Materials segment, which produces high-purity spherical metal powders for additive manufacturing. Materials revenue rose 20 percent to CAD 7.9 million in Q2, with contribution margins climbing to 54 percent from 38 percent a year earlier. The segment now accounts for the majority of Tekna's profitability and is where most of the growth is coming from.

CEO Claude Jean said the story behind the numbers is customers moving from R&D to production. Aerospace and defense manufacturers that previously bought small quantities of Ti-6Al-4V powder for prototyping are now placing larger, recurring orders after completing lengthy qualification processes. In July, Tekna disclosed that orders from a single U.S. defense contract manufacturer had already surpassed CAD 3 million in 2026, more than six times the total volume that customer bought in all of 2025.

Backlog at Record Levels

Total Q2 orders reached CAD 19 million, more than double the prior year, and the company's backlog sits at a record CAD 28.5 million. Much of that growth came from the Systems business, which secured its largest-ever order from a new U.S. critical-minerals customer. The Systems segment sells induction plasma equipment used to produce advanced materials, including the metal powders Tekna itself manufactures.

The backlog gives Tekna visibility into 2027 and beyond. The company ended Q2 with CAD 18 million in cash and expects capital spending of only CAD 1.5 million to CAD 2 million for the full year. Management said existing production capacity is sufficient to support near-term growth without major new investments.

What It Means for Additive Manufacturing

For the AM industry, powder demand is a lagging indicator of actual printer utilization. Printer sales show where growth is happening, but powder orders show whether those machines are running in production. Tekna's results suggest that a meaningful number of aerospace and defense programs have cleared the qualification hurdle and are now in serial production, not just prototyping.

The company works with 57 percent of the 69 aerospace and defense OEMs it has identified as potential customers, including Airbus, Boeing, and Dassault. It also has more than 20 active medical customers and said several others are currently qualifying its powders. Once a powder is qualified for a regulated application, switching suppliers becomes difficult, which helps lock in repeat business.

Reshoring trends are reinforcing demand as well. Aerospace and defense customers are using AM to simplify supply chains and reduce weight, and they prefer sources they can qualify locally. Tekna's NADCAP accreditation for metallic powder production, achieved last year, gives it an additional credential in markets where traceability and quality are non-negotiable.

Tekna is targeting double-digit annual revenue growth through 2030 and EBITDA margins of 15 percent to 20 percent. The Q2 results suggest that path is achievable if defense spending and reshoring continue at their current pace.