This feels like pressure from the state. I do not see why they would do this otherwise. If people use these printers at work, they may be willingly sending prototypes and designs to China. That would create a huge advantage, because the company could know who bought the printer, where they are located, and what they are working on. Since Chinese companies are required to comply with the government, corporate espionage seems like the most logical explanation to me.

It also enables a similar model to Facebook's insight into third party mobile app growth. The state could look for early growth trends in a given category or model type.

Then their org has the option to burnish or bury models that align with their goals.