Liliang Diamond plans to redirect 1.0277 billion yuan to functional materials as Huanghe Whirlwind expands diamond heat-sink production.
China’s synthetic diamond exports through the Shanghai Diamond Exchange reached 1.41 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, up 65.3% year over year, as domestic manufacturers pursued industrial applications alongside the established jewelry market.
Shanghai Customs data reported by Xinhua on Aug. 3 showed the value of synthetic diamond products declared for general-trade export through the exchange. Shanghai Diamond Exchange President Lin Qiang told Xinhua that China accounted for more than 60% of global synthetic diamond production.
Henan Liliang Diamond Co. (SZSE: 301071) plans to redirect 1.0277 billion yuan ($153 million) in unused share-sale proceeds toward functional diamond materials, according to a June 10 stock-exchange filing. Henan Huanghe Whirlwind Co. (SSE: 600172) has also begun operating an eight-inch diamond heat-sink production line.
The developments come as manufacturers explore applications for synthetic diamonds in semiconductor cooling and other electronic materials. However, export data do not distinguish jewelry shipments from industrial products, and the companies’ announcements do not establish how much revenue currently generated by semiconductor-cooling applications.
Liliang Diamond reallocates funds to functional materials
Liliang’s board approved a proposal on June 10 to redirect 1.0276955 billion yuan from an existing factory project to a three-year functional-materials project. The proposed investment covers heat-dissipation materials, optical materials and acoustic diaphragms, according to the company’s filing.
The company raised net proceeds of 3.891 billion yuan through a share sale in August 2022 and originally allocated 2.189 billion yuan to the factory project. It had spent 1.051 billion yuan on that project as of May 31.
Liliang attributed the proposed change to equipment costs, longer construction timelines, rapid technological developments and unused funds. The filing also identifies competition, price volatility, weaker downstream demand and underutilized capacity as risks to the new project.
Huanghe Whirlwind expands heat-sink production
Huanghe Whirlwind reported on its official website on April 17 that its eight-inch diamond heat-sink production line entered operation at Fengyouchuang on Feb. 28. The company began developing chemical vapor deposition polycrystalline diamond films for high-end applications in May 2023 and reported progress from two-inch heat sinks in 2024 to larger products.
The production line was developed through Fengyouchuang, a joint venture established by Huanghe Whirlwind and Shenzhen Uniplasma in September 2025, according to Uniplasma’s announcement. The joint venture focuses on developing and producing microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition diamond products.
A separate May 11 update from Huanghe Whirlwind reported development work on diamond-silicon carbide composite material. The company gave a thermal conductivity above 700 watts per meter-kelvin and a thermal expansion coefficient of 2.6 parts per million per degree Celsius. These are company-reported technical specifications; the announcement does not establish commercial sales or customer adoption.
Element Six and Orbray develop larger diamond wafers
Element Six, the synthetic diamond and advanced materials business of De Beers, and Japan’s Orbray announced on June 16 that they had established a reproducible process for three-inch single-crystal diamond wafers.
The companies said they were preparing two-inch wafers for thermal bonding for volume production at Element Six’s facility in Gresham, Oregon. Development of four-inch substrates was underway, according to their announcement.
The work differs from Huanghe Whirlwind’s development of polycrystalline diamond heat sinks. Although both target applications that benefit from diamond’s thermal properties, they involve different materials and manufacturing processes.
Jewelry remains a major export market
Chen Wang, sales director at Ningbo Jingzuan, told Xinhua that the company’s current synthetic diamond exports primarily serve jewellery applications. He identified integrated circuits, AI computing, high-power lasers, high-frequency filters and quantum technology as other potential application areas.
The export data do not break down shipments by end use. The 63% increase therefore indicates growth in reported export value but does not show how much came from semiconductor or other industrial applications.
The key question for manufacturers is whether investment in functional materials translates into sustained commercial demand. Liliang Diamond’s proposed funding reallocation, Huanghe Whirlwind’s operating production line and the wafer-development work reported by Element Six and Orbray. The available figures do not establish the current share of China’s synthetic diamond market accounted for by semiconductor cooling.
