[nmridul]

Just wondering how much does these machines cost and why we are we not making such machines at large scale ? Surely diamonds are in demad beyond jewellery. So making these machines at scale and reducing their cost could disrupt these "scammers"..

[kergonath]

There was someone selling a HPHT machine for growing diamonds for $200k on AliExpress not that long ago. Not quite the same process as in the article, but the result is the same. So the answer is probably "a lot for an individual, but not that much in the grand scheme of things".

> Surely diamonds are in demand beyond jewellery.

Synthetic industrial diamonds are already common, and have been for a while. But they don’t have any purity standard and are very small, so they are much quicker to grow.

> So making these machines at scale and reducing their cost could disrupt these "scammers"..

They are not that expensive but they are not going to disrupt the gemstone diamond business. However, synthetic moissanite is more interesting than industrial diamonds. It is similar to diamond from a structural point of view, but it is half silicon, half carbon instead of pure carbon. It is created using a similar process than diamond, and prices are currently about $10 for 1ct (give or take, clearer are more expensive). Some people prefer it because it is actually more sparkling than diamond. But even if it does not decrease demand for diamonds, it shows how low the prices can get.

[thaumasiotes]

> Surely diamonds are in dema[n]d beyond jewellery.

Yes, of course, that's what diamond-tipped drills and saws are all about.

Industrial diamonds are already cheap. The machines already exist at large scale. Diamonds are important industrial tools.