The Diamond Age
The price of diamonds is going to drop like a rock - they can now “grow a more perfect diamond than we can find in nature.” All of you chumps who bought diamonds for your loved ones (myself included) basically threw your money out the window.
The great thing about this is not all of the new jewelry we can wear, or the fact that we are chumps, but all of the applications for technology:
At the heart of almost every electrical device is a semiconductor, which transmits electricity only under certain conditions. For the past 50 years, the devices have been made almost exclusively from silicon, a metal-like substance extracted from sand. It has two significant drawbacks, however: it is fragile and overheats. By contrast, diamond is rugged, doesn’t break down at high temperatures, and its electrons can be made to carry a current with minimal interference.
Apollo has used profits from its gemstones to underwrite its foray into the $250 billion semiconductor industry. The company has a partnership Bryant Linares declines to confirm to produce semiconductors specialized for purposes he declines to discuss. But he revealed to me that Apollo is beginning to sell one-inch diamond wafers. “We anticipate that these initial wafers will be used for research and development purposes in our clients’ product development efforts,” Linares says.
This is the beginning of the Diamond Age.
