Editor’s Note
The rise of lab-grown diamonds, produced in weeks rather than over billions of years, is reshaping the traditional jewelry market. As technology drives down costs, this synthetic alternative presents a significant challenge to the established industry.
It takes the Earth over a billion years to create a natural diamond, but synthetic diamonds can be produced in just one week.
The emergence of these synthetic diamonds is significantly disrupting the traditional industry, according to Marty Hurwitz, director of the Synthetic Diamond Trade Organization.
Synthetic diamonds began appearing on the jewelry market over a decade ago, but recent technological advancements have substantially reduced their production cost.
Currently, a 3-carat lab-grown diamond is worth only 7% of the price of a comparable-sized natural diamond. According to data from Tenoris, lab-grown diamonds now account for 17% of the U.S. retail market by volume, a sharp increase from 3% in 2020.
Over 70% of the synthetic diamonds used in global jewelry originate from China, with Henan being the center of this industry.
China’s shift into diamond production was not driven by jewelry demand, but by geopolitical factors, as the Soviet Union cut off its supply of industrial diamonds in the early 1960s.
By the 1980s, Henan had become a center for industrial diamond production. It was only in the last decade that Chinese companies turned to the jewelry sector, which offers higher profit margins.
Today, most synthetic diamonds in China are produced using the “High Pressure, High Temperature” (HPHT) method, and a growing number of manufacturers are using the “Chemical Vapor Deposition” (CVD) method for larger gemstones.
After initial processing, they are shipped to Surat, India, for polishing, before reaching commercial hubs like Antwerp or Dubai and finally consumers.
However, few consumers are aware of China’s central role, due to customs labeling conventions that typically indicate the country where the diamond was polished.
The Chinese diamond industry also holds strategic importance due to its use in military and defense equipment. Norinco, the Chinese state-owned weapons manufacturer, even operates a synthetic diamond production business under its own jewelry brand.
In 2018, De Beers, the natural diamond giant, created Lightbox Jewelry, a synthetic diamond company, to position itself in a niche market while preserving the prestige of natural diamonds. However, this move triggered a price war, leading to a fall in natural diamond prices.
By the end of 2024, De Beers’ diamond inventory had reached $2 billion, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
The price of synthetic diamonds has plummeted dramatically. In 2020, a 3-carat synthetic diamond cost about $28,900. By the second quarter of 2025, that price had fallen to just $3,900, eight times less than its initial value. Faced with improving technologies and lower prices from Chinese companies, Lightbox lost its competitive edge and ceased operations this year.
In Henan, the Chinese provincial government had to intervene by creating a new diamond association to control the price war, similar to what happened in the electric vehicle sector. One of the association’s first measures was to set a minimum price of $15 per carat for rough diamonds.
The emergence of synthetic diamonds has had a positive side effect: the democratization of diamonds. Ankur Daga, co-founder of the online jeweler Angara, expressed surprise at their popularity:
With the soaring price of gold, the cost structure of engagement rings has shifted. For many synthetic diamond buyers, the highest cost is no longer the stone itself, but the gold setting. This demonstrates that synthetic diamonds are not just transforming the market but also redefining perceptions of luxury and value in jewelry.