Since 2024, there has been a noticeable market shift in the global lab-grown diamond industry. The Industry Market Committee of the AIDI International Smart Diamond Association, while reviewing the industry’s development trends, has uncovered the essence behind this shift. From a strategic perspective, De Beers Group seems to be positioning itself for a major move. The core of this strategy lies in the belief that lab-grown diamonds still possess industrial product attributes, which contrasts with the "rarity equals value" nature of natural diamonds, leading to a shrinking natural diamond market. This situation represents a loss in market share for the core high-profit natural diamond segment.
To counter this, De Beers is redirecting the lab-grown diamond industry toward industrial applications. This move serves two key purposes:
- It helps mitigate the impact of global economic downturns and the disruption caused by the low prices of lab-grown diamond jewelry in the high-profit core market.
- It allows De Beers to establish a leading technological advantage in the industrial market, particularly ahead of China’s enormous production capacity. This dual-track strategy ensures that De Beers maintains its competitive edge by integrating industry resources and smoothly shifting towards new markets.
Element Six, a subsidiary of De Beers, is already developing technological solutions, utilizing lab-grown diamonds for high-value industries such as quantum technology, semiconductors, and water purification.
In November, the company announced its investment in Lightsynq, a quantum computing startup. Lightsynq aims to build faster and more powerful solutions to expand quantum computing, paving the way for advancements in fields like chemistry and cybersecurity. While research has primarily focused on small-scale quantum computers in recent years, the difficulty in scaling them has limited their commercial application. However, Element Six’s synthetic diamonds, with their stability and interaction with light, can provide the solutions needed to create complex quantum connections.
Element Six stated, "This is just one example of how synthetic diamond solutions from Element Six are shaping the future of multiple high-tech industries."
In June 2024, De Beers announced that Element Six would focus more on providing high-tech industrial solutions as part of its "Origin" strategy. The company has since launched several important collaborations, including working with Japan’s Orbray to produce the world’s highest quality wafer-grade single crystal synthetic diamonds, and teaming up with U.S.-based Lummus Technology to introduce an innovative method for eliminating harmful "forever chemicals"—PFAS—from water.
As lab-grown diamonds open new frontiers for innovative applications in high-value markets, Element Six will continue to collaborate with its global partner network to commercialize synthetic diamond technology solutions.
Element Six CEO Siobhán Duffy said, "Synthetic diamonds have the potential to shape our future, from the water we drink to the internet connectivity our society relies on. Element Six is proud to be deeply rooted in innovation, and for decades, we have been a leader in this field. We will continue to drive new opportunities and positive applications through pioneering synthetic diamond solutions and technologies."
Countries like Australia and Spain have also been increasing their investments in industrial applications of lab-grown diamonds and diamonds, leveraging their own industrial and technological advantages. Of course, industrial applications also face the same technological barriers as the diamond cutting industry, particularly in the laser cutting technology used for semiconductors and chip materials. Japan has already made significant investments in ultra-hard materials generation and cutting technology, reportedly making progress in the experimental stages.
AIDI believes that this is part of De Beers' comprehensive strategy to guide the lab-grown diamond industry toward industrial applications, thus safeguarding its share of the natural diamond market. The next step is to see how the lab-grown diamond industry, particularly in India and China, responds to this shift. The drama is just beginning!