De Beers has confirmed it will shut down Lightbox, its lab-grown diamond (LGD) jewelry brand launched in 2018. The company attributes the decision to a sustained collapse in LGD prices and a strategic return to its original positioning: mined diamonds as the only product category with lasting consumer and financial value.

This closure finalizes a retreat that began months ago when De Beers ceased production at its Oregon-based Lightbox factory, reallocating its use to industrial applications under Element Six, a De Beers subsidiary. The group now intends to sell off Lightbox inventory and assets. Retail support and warranties for existing Lightbox customers will continue through the wind-down.

De Beers justified the exit with a data point few in the industry dispute: LGD wholesale prices have declined more than 90% since Lightbox’s introduction, reaching retail lows of $200 per carat in the U.S., including in supermarkets. This confirms a trend toward LGDs being treated as commoditized fashion accessories, not long-term value assets. De Beers priced Lightbox stones at $800 per carat at launch, deliberately undercutting competitors. This strategy aimed to shift consumer perception and dissociate LGDs from the pricing benchmarks of natural diamonds.

For wholesalers and consumers, this shutdown sends a clear market signal. Lab-grown diamonds, regardless of quality or production method, are no longer being treated by dominant market forces as heirloom or luxury-grade items. For De Beers, Lightbox was never a full commercial commitment; it was a tactical move to define the market narrative. By legitimizing lab-grown only to set its price floor and relegate it to non-bridal, disposable segments, De Beers achieved its dual goals: preventing price anchoring to mined stones and destabilizing the early LGD competitors’ growth strategies.

Lightbox’s losses escalated to over $100 million in 2023, which De Beers attributes partly to factory investments. But its discontinuation is not primarily a reaction to poor performance—it’s part of a broader restructuring under parent company Anglo American. Anglo, which has recorded heavy writedowns on De Beers ($4.5 billion total across 2023 and early 2024), is seeking to simplify and possibly divest the diamond unit. A business segment cannibalizing natural diamonds and posting growing losses had to be removed.

The strategic pivot also positions Element Six to attract distinct investors. The Oregon facility, once tied to Lightbox, will now produce synthetic diamonds exclusively for industrial uses such as quantum computing and semiconductors. This helps detach the industrial tech narrative from jewelry market volatility.

What the market has learned is that consumer-grade LGDs are inherently deflationary. Unlike mined diamonds, they can be produced at scale, anywhere, at decreasing cost. Even high-end consumers have shown price sensitivity, and sentiment has rapidly shifted away from LGDs as engagement-ring substitutes. Simultaneously, retailers racing to meet demand have fueled oversupply. The result is a price war with no floor, and no brand—De Beers included—can protect margins in such a climate.

For wholesalers, this closure makes two things clear: natural and lab-grown are now fully separated markets, and LGDs must be treated as fast-moving consumer goods, not luxury assets. Price stability is unlikely, and brand cachet alone will not insulate LGD stock from depreciation. For consumers, the message is that LGDs offer cosmetic appeal but not investment value. The initial value proposition—identical to mined, but cheaper—has been replaced with disposability.

De Beers, having engineered the price collapse of a market it briefly entered, exits having completed its objective. The company has reasserted natural diamonds as the sole high-value, long-term product in its portfolio and has made its asset base more saleable by eliminating a strategically contradictory unit.

The outcome is a formal re-segmentation of the diamond market. Lab-grown diamonds are now a mature, low-margin product. Mined diamonds remain scarce, brand-supported, and marketed as permanent. The LGD industry, now without its most influential pricing benchmark, enters a phase of survival through efficiency, not prestige.

References

• De Beers Group announces intention to close Lightbox business
• De Beers Shutting Down Lightbox, Its Lab-Grown Diamond Business