China’s lab-grown diamonds get an AI boost as industry rides demand for chip cooling

Once overshadowed by natural diamonds in consumer markets, lab-grown versions of the world’s strongest natural substance have become a bright spot for industrial applications, fuelled by the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom. As the world’s largest producer of the synthetic gems, China has posted strong export growth in recent years. Official data shows that the value of exports of lab-grown diamonds through the Shanghai Diamond Exchange (SDE) hit 1.41 billion yuan (US$210 million) in…