IMTS 2026 Opens in Chicago

IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show has today at McCormick Place in Chicago with 1,788 exhibiting companies (including 400 first-time exhibitors), 1.17 million square feet of exhibit space, and attendance on pace to exceed 90,000. The largest manufacturing technology show in the Western Hemisphere runs Sept. 14-19, and it brings an economic impact of $250 million to Chicago and Illinois. As of this morning, there were 80,697 registrants, including an estimated 15,000 students. IMTS 2026 is also seeing a higher visitor-to-exhibitor-personnel ratio; in previous years, IMTS saw a 1.42 floor-density ratio, meaning that there are 142 visitors for every 100 exhibitor personnel.

The strong turnout comes as manufacturers continue to invest heavily in production technology. New orders of metalworking machinery totaled $605.8 million in July 2026, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report issued yesterday. Through July, orders reached $4.03 billion, up 37.1% compared with the same period in 2025. This is only the second time since USMTO began collecting data in 1998 that orders have exceeded half a billion dollars for five consecutive months.

“America has rediscovered a fundamental economic truth: Ultimately, a country creates value by making, mining, or growing something locally, and all three depend on manufacturing,” said Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, at the show’s opening ceremony. AMT owns and produces IMTS. “Investment is flowing into U.S. manufacturing at the same time companies are rethinking and regionalizing their supply chains. The technologies at IMTS give manufacturers the productivity, flexibility, and scale to capitalize on that opportunity.”

Across the show floor, AI, automation, robotics, connected systems, software, additive manufacturing, machining, metrology, tooling, and workholding come together as integrated manufacturing solutions.

“Only IMTS brings the entire manufacturing technology ecosystem together,” said Woods. “This is the one place where you can see all these technologies working together, compare solutions, and understand how they can change what happens in your factory.”

A Global Community

Registrants for IMTS 2026 include people from all 50 states and 113 countries. Visitors include those from the defense, aerospace, automotive, off-highway equipment, power, oil and gas, AI infrastructure (data centers), semiconductor, medical, and other industries. Companies of all sizes are represented, including tens of thousands of small job shops and contract manufacturers, prime defense contractors, AI hyperscalers, and major OEMs.

“IMTS is a solutions-based show and a community of innovators, builders, and people who achieve the impossible,” said Michelle Edmonson, vice president – exhibitions, AMT. “Whether people come from the other side of the world or across the country, they come for the same fundamental reason: They have a challenge to solve or an opportunity to pursue, and they know they can meet the people and companies here who can help them accomplish their goals. Those connections are what make IMTS a community, and they continue long after everyone goes home.”

The manufacturing community has been gathering at IMTS in Chicago for nearly 80 years. First held in the city in 1947 at the Dodge Plant on South Cicero Avenue, IMTS moved to McCormick Place in 1972 and has grown alongside both the manufacturing industry and its longtime host city.

“On behalf of the MPEA McCormick Place campus, we are so excited and proud to welcome IMTS 2026 to McCormick Place and to Chicago, Illinois,” said Larita Clark, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA). “This year marks 54 years together. That is more than a milestone. It is a reflection of true partnership. Through decades of change, nationally, locally, in our industry, and in the way people gather, our relationship has remained strong because of a shared commitment to delivering meaningful experiences to exhibitors and attendees.”