Quantum Diamond Chokepoint
A new analysis on quantum supply chains hit me right between the eyes this week. It lays out—in stark terms—where scale will stall unless we fix a handful of critical inputs. One of those inputs is ours: technology-grade grown diamond. The authors point out that, today, the West effectively relies on a single “proven” supplier of electronic-grade diamond for quantum memory and sensing, with academics increasingly fielding outreach from lower-cost Chinese vendors to fill gaps. That is the very definition of a chokepoint—and it’s one our community can solve.
Why it matters: Quantum isn’t just superconducting chips in giant refrigerators. The fastest-maturing branch—quantum sensing—leans heavily on diamond color centers (especially NV centers) that operate at or near room temperature and unlock capabilities ranging from navigation and timing to biomedical imaging and magnetic anomaly detection. Peer-reviewed work this year again names single-crystal diamond NV sensors as a leading room-temperature platform because of their precision and versatility. In plain English: no high-purity diamond, no scalable quantum sensing.
And sensing is only the start. Hybrid photonics and diamond-on-platform approaches (think GaP-on-diamond and related stacks) are racing forward, but they all assume reliable access to low-defect, application-specific diamond wafers and films—and repeatable post-growth processing (etch, polish, implantation, activation, passivation) that preserves quantum performance. That’s where the bottleneck tightens: limited qualified suppliers, long lead times, and uneven specs that force labs and OEMs into one-off hero runs rather than true product pipelines.
Here’s the punchline for prime diamond growers: if you want to be indispensable to the next decade of quantum, now is the moment to step in together and turn “nice papers” into dependable parts. The market signals are blinking green—defense magnetometry programs, navigation-without-GPS initiatives, compact field systems, and industrial metrology lines are all pushing from pilot to production. But purchasers can’t spec what they can’t source, and they won’t design-in a material that shows up late, varies lot-to-lot, or disappears for six months because one plant went down.
What growers can do—now:
Stand up standardized quantum-grade lines. Commit to publishable, testable specs for NV and related centers (e.g., [N], [NV], [NV⁻]/[NV⁰] ratios, strain, isotope purity, surface termination options) at wafer-level, with repeatability metrics and acceptance bands. Back those with metrology data that OEMs can trust.
Build redundancy and surge capacity. The chokepoint article is blunt: single-source dependencies break programs. Coordinated multi-site production and reciprocal tolling agreements among growers are not “nice to have”—they’re prerequisites for defense and industrial buyers.
Integrate downstream process know-how. Device performance hinges on the way we etch, pattern, dope, and passivate diamond without killing coherence or optical yield. Growers that bundle proven process flows—or partner tightly with those who can—win the design-in battle.
This is exactly why we built LGDinTECH. Our consortium is the neutral ground where prime growers, post-growth specialists, and end-users align on requirements, reliability, and ramp:
– We’re convening spec roundtables focused on quantum-sensor-ready diamond (ensemble and single-defect paths), with shared test vehicles and cross-lab correlation.
– We’re mapping capacity and lead times so program managers can plan against real supply, not wishful thinking.
– We’re brokering pilot runs between growers and OEMs to qualify materials for specific sensing, photonics, and control-electronics stacks.
Bottom line:
Quantum technologies—especially sensing—are a critical part of Earth’s future infrastructure, from resilient navigation to medical diagnostics. They cannot thrive without a resilient pipeline of technology-grade grown diamond. The chokepoint is real; the opportunity is bigger. If you grow diamond, your expertise belongs at the center of this story—and LGDinTECH is where you plug in, shape the specs, and capture the demand.
Join us. Let’s turn the “diamond chokepoint” into a competitive advantage for every qualified prime grower—and remove one of the biggest brakes on quantum’s takeoff.
– Marty Hurwitz, Co-Founder LGD in TECH