Four decades ago, Zhecheng, an agricultural county in Henan province, was mainly known for its chili peppers and beef cattle. Today, with an annual production of 6 billion carats of single-crystal diamonds, 15 billion carats of diamond micro-powder, and more than 10 million carats of lab-grown gems, the county now dazzles as the “diamond capital of China”. Synthetic diamonds, also known as lab-grown or man-made diamonds, are created in controlled laboratory conditions rather than formed naturally. The sector is mainly divided into consumer-grade diamonds and industrial diamonds that include diamond micro-powder and single crystal. In 2023, China produced over 70% of the world’s synthetic diamonds, totaling 22 million carats, and Zhecheng was responsible for nearly half of that output. Last year, its share further increased to about 60%.
How did a once modest farming county emerge as a powerhouse in the global diamond industry – once dominated by giants from the United States and Russia? Sun Ruomei, Party Secretary and Director of the Management Committee of the Zhecheng High-Tech Zone, said that China's new diamond capital wasn't “built in a day”. “Years of unwavering support from pioneering enterprises, visionary policymaking from the county government, and a relentless drive for innovation and digitalization from the younger generation are the reasons,” Sun said. The story began in the 1960s, when China relied heavily on imported diamonds to drive industrial development. Determined to chart its own path, the country embarked on an ambitious quest to produce synthetic diamonds, with Henan emerging as a pivotal player in this high-stakes undertaking. After years of trials and setbacks, China successfully created its first synthetic diamond in 1963, becoming the fifth country to achieve this technological feat after the U.S., the former Soviet Union, and others. But Henan didn’t stop there, and designed a groundbreaking six-sided top press that turned soft graphite into glittering diamonds with astonishing efficiency – 20 times faster than two-sided presses used abroad. The presses not only accelerated production, but also laid the foundation for a revolution in the global superhard materials industry. Scaling up mass production became a game-changer. One of the first to seize the opportunity was Wang Zhanxi, a 70-year-old worker from Zhecheng. He founded the county’s first diamond tool factory, aiming to not just produce diamonds, but also to churn them out at scale.
Today, Zhecheng boasts a 12-square-kilometer industrial cluster that links upstream suppliers with downstream manufacturers. It has also created a seamless ecosystem that has drawn over 120 diamond-related enterprises, including two national-level little giant companies celebrated for their innovation and market dominance. Huifeng Diamond, once a humble family workshop, has evolved into the nation’s largest producer of diamond micro-powder, churning out 3 billion carats annually. Workers are a rare sight, thanks to digitalization that governs every stage of the production process. Said Bao Siwei, Huifeng’s Deputy General Manager: “What used to require hours of manual work is now fully automated. Our efficiency and quality have skyrocketed.” Huifeng’s crowning achievement is the industrial-scale production of 50-nanometer diamond micro-powder that places it firmly on the global stage.
In 2006, Zhecheng county established an industrial park with support infrastructure to focus on the diamond industry and attracted diamond-related enterprises into the park. In 2009, the county upgraded the industrial park into an industrial cluster zone and established Zhecheng’s superhard materials production base. “Now, Zhecheng aims to increase the number of six-sided top presses to 5,000 within one to two years, striving to become the national leader. At the same time, more efforts will be made to support companies in innovating technologies, developing new products, and pushing Zhecheng’s superhard materials industry into the higher end,” Bao said.
Companies like Power Diamond, which was successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2021 and ranked as a national little giant company, are pushing boundaries. At this year’s Las Vegas Jewelry Exhibition, Power Diamond showcased a stunning 50-carat lab-grown gem that turned heads and underscored the county’s innovative prowess. Behind it is the company’s 100% independent technology, said Chen Yanan, Project Manager at Power Diamond. The company has already achieved mass production of 1 to 30-carat diamonds. Lab-grown diamonds, with their properties like high thermal conductivity and high energy storage, are expected to drive the next major revolution in the semiconductor industry. We are also working on such technologies,” he said.
Henan, as a whole, now produces more than 80% of the world’s synthetic diamonds, and hosts the only national-level superhard materials base in China, with its ecosystem spanning research institutes, universities and leading enterprises. China’s superhard materials industry's market size is estimated to reach USD539.77 million this year, the China Daily reports.
