【2026 AI New Materials】Pricing from \"tons\" to \"sheets\": Another AI-related new material sees rapid growth”
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Recently, a significant report by CCTV Finance went viral. The report notes that an industrial abrasive that used to be sold by the ton has now transformed into \"chip cooling pads\" sold by the piece. This is a diamond (synthetic diamond).
This is not a science fiction story from a laboratory; it is a new materials revolution that is sweeping through the fields of AI, 5G, military radar, and new energy vehicles.
The ultimate limit of computing power is heat dissipation! Why would CCTV, which is usually so reserved, dedicate so much coverage to a \"rock\"? This is because traditional cooling materials are nearing their physical limits due to the demands placed on them by large AI models. With the rapid increase in demand for AI computing chips, their structure has evolved from planar to three-dimensional, resulting in power consumption levels that can reach several kilowatts.
In scenarios where the power consumption per chip exceeds 1400 watts, diamond is a necessity. Its physical properties are truly excellent: its heat conduction capacity is 5 times that of copper and 10 times that of silicon! It is the substance with the highest thermal conductivity known in nature at present.
The world’s major technology giants have already taken action upon hearing about this. In February of this year, NVIDIA officially announced that its next-generation GPU chips would adopt a new cooling solution based on \"diamond composite materials + liquid cooling\". This decision marked the beginning of diamond’s transition from being an “industrial tool” to becoming a “chip cooling element”. This is not just a technological leap, but also the eve of the emergence of a brand-new trillion-dollar industry!
According to Galaxy Securities’ forecasts, the domestic diamond heat sink market is set to reach a value of 1 billion yuan by 2025–2026. As the new material with the fastest growth rate in the semiconductor sector, its valuation is expected to exceed 50 times!
In the past, many people dismissed diamond cooling as unnecessary, thinking that “diamonds are too expensive to use.” But this time, CCTV has made it clear to the market: the cost bottleneck is being overcome! Pure diamond is indeed expensive, but domestic companies have developed the \"Chinese solution\" that is most suitable for commercial application: copper-diamond composite materials.
The cost of copper diamond is one-fifth to one-tenth that of pure diamond, yet its heat dissipation efficiency can reach half that of pure diamond. This year, copper diamond is expected to enter the stage of mass production, with large-scale applications of such technology already in use in domestic AI computing centers. From perfect materials in laboratories to key materials in the early stages of industrialization, diamond is making its way into various fields with great momentum, penetrating from the military and aerospace sectors into high-end civilian and consumer electronics markets.
Synthetic diamonds are the “ultimate heat dissipation material” in the AI era! With a thermal conductivity as high as 2200 W/(m·K), it is 5-6 times that of copper and 14-15 times that of silicon; it can reduce GPU temperatures by 60°C and boost performance by 3 times, enabling AI computing facilities with 100,000 cards to save 300 million in electricity costs per year!
China controls 95% of the global production capacity, driven by policy support and technological advancements: The Power Diamond heat sinks have been approved by NVIDIA, with orders expected to exceed 500 million by 2026； - The Yellow River Cyclone 8-inch heat sink chips will go into mass production in 2026, with existing orders amounting to 150 million ； - Zhongbing Hongjian Industrial holds the world’s largest market share in industrial diamonds, with strong growth in both military and civilian applications ； - SMEC’s six-sided press holds a market share of over 60%; breakthroughs have been achieved in the critical areas related to such equipment!
The artificial diamond industry chain functions like a \"supermaterial repository for high-end manufacturing\" – the upstream segment includes equipment and raw materials (hexagonal press machines, MPCVD equipment, high-purity graphite/catalyst powders, which represent the highest technical barriers) – the midstream stage involves crystal growth (HPHT method is used primarily for industrial and jewelry applications, while CVD method is focused on high-end cooling and semiconductor applications, and it constitutes the key profit-generating part of the chain) – the downstream segment covers various application areas (AI cooling, semiconductors, military applications, jewelry; AI and high-end manufacturing represent the fastest-growing areas).