MIM technology can be traced back to the powder injection molding preparation of ceramic spark plugs since the 1920s, and powder injection molding was mainly focused on ceramic injection molding in the following decades. It was not until 1979, when Parmatech, founded by Wiech et al., won two awards for its metal injection molding products, and when Wiech and Rivers were granted patents, that powder injection molding began to take the lead in metal injection molding. MIM was set up after Parmatech transferred several of its patents. Wiech established Witec in 1980, Brunswick entered the MIM industry and acquired Witec in 1982, and then gradually registered subsidiaries of Omark industries, Remington military products, Rocky dental, etc. In 1986, Japan's Nippon Seison company introduced the Wiech process. In 1990, Israel Metalor2000 company Parmatech introduced Wiech technology and established MIM production line. After nearly 20 years of development, the global MIM product market value in 2003 reached approximately 1 billion us dollars. By region, the United States accounts for 55 percent, followed by Europe and Japan. More than 500 companies worldwide manufacture and sell metal injection molding products, as well as about 40 MIM powder suppliers and 20 MIM feed suppliers. According to statistics, the forming capacity of the global MIM industry has exceeded 700 injection molding machines, 500 furnaces and 300 mixing machines. Marko Maetzig has analysed the situation in Europe, which has 120 companies and 30 research institutes working on the MIM, 250 injection molding machines and 1, 100 tonnes of feed a year. In Europe, 38 per cent of MIM came from traditional ceramics, 27 per cent from plastics, 8 per cent from traditional powder metallurgy and metal cutting, 5 per cent from foundry and 14 per cent from start-ups. Currently, there are 20 ~ 30 MIM companies in Japan. In recent years, the MIM market in Japan has shown a steady rising trend. Although there was a decrease in 2001 from 2000, overall, its total sales showed a steady trend of growth.

The MIM has experienced a rapid development. Although MIM is attracting more and more attention, its industrial scale is still weak compared with traditional processing technology, and there is still great potential for development. The nascent MIM industry also needs to be expanded through efforts to develop industry standards, accelerate industrialization, improve the quality of practitioners, develop equipment, and win over customers. With the continuous improvement of the process, the advantages of metal injection molding technology are gradually shown, will be more and more industries and customers to accept, it brings a sharp increase in the market share. Due to the huge potential of the market, many venture capital also began to get involved in the MIM industry. It is foreseeable that MIM will develop into one of the promising parts manufacturing technologies in the 21st century.