A step toward fully 3D-printed active electronics

I am a fan of 3D printing. And I think you can probably get some circuit traces 3D printed for some niche applications.

But active electronics? That's a huge stretch. But more importantly, the economics just doesn't make sense. Components already cost fractions of a cent. Small-run PCB prototyping is like <$25 for 5 boards or so.

"A step toward..."

Maybe. But why?

Being able to just print some simple electronics components would massively simplify iteration and distribution of DIY things, especially as auto-filament changer systems become more accessible. As one example, being able to print a transistor or two and some traces would allow for making projects which embed something like an ESP32 dev board much more compact without having to wait for weeks for custom PCBs to ship from China.

It's always weird to see people making arguments like this on a forum titled "Hacker News"