Element Six, a synthetic diamond manufacturing company owned by De Beers and Umicore, has opened its first manufacturing U.S. manufacturing facility in Silicon Valley, California. The company aims on producing several millions of dollars worth of synthetic diamonds per year in its 20,000 square foot plan, using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.

 

The synthetic diamonds will be used in a variety of applications, mainly in the electronics industry and for use in high-powered lasers and in the bio-medical and magnetometry sectors. Synthetic diamonds possess many qualities that make them beneficial in technology development, mainly hardness and thermal conductivity.

 

“As the pioneers of the commercial CVD diamond markets, we have the technical excellence, capabilities and track record to develop entirely new applications for synthetic diamond,” said chief executive of Element Six, Cyrus Jilla.

 

Element Six previously operated a plant in England. Marketplace decisions led to the company’s expansion in the U.S., mainly the growing demand in synthetic diamonds for commercial and technological use, and the strategic necessity of being in proximity to decision making business interests in North America.  The company is simultaneously expanding in the UK as well. It recently announced the construction of a synthetic diamond research and development facility in Oxford, UK.

 

“A large portion of our new markets have decision makers in North America….There are number of opportunities for military applications, and to be a supplier to the U.S. military you have to have manufacturing in North America….The Silicon Valley location represents an opportunity to network with customers because decision makers in semiconductors are still very much based in the Valley or within an hour or two flight,” said Adrian Wilson, head of technologies for Element Six.