EU Grants Diamond Foundry $85 Million for Spanish Lab-Grown Factory

By Rob Bates | December 17, 2024

The European Union (EU) has approved a grant of 81 million euros—about $85 million—to lab-grown diamond producer Diamond Foundry to complete its factory in Extremadura, Spain.

An EU statement said the grant, which does not have to be paid back, was necessary because the “beneficiary would not carry out the project without public aid” and the factory would create 300 jobs in the region. Diamond Foundry broke ground on the facility last year.

“The grant was always an instrumental part and condition of the project,” Diamond Foundry CEO Martin Roscheisen tells JCK. “Note that this is not a new statement but one from years ago that is now through the formal processes.”

While the EU’s announcement said the Diamond Foundry factory will produce 4 million to 5 million carats a year, Roscheisen expects it will produce 20 million.

“The plan we are executing is 20 million carats, but our EU commitment is fulfilled at 5 million carats,” he says. “That’s largely because with the technology advancing, we have achieved much higher productivity since we first applied [for the grant] with the EU.”

Teresa Ribera, the EU’s executive vice president for a clean, fair, and competitive transition, said in the statement: “Today’s decision allows Spain to support Diamond Foundry Europe in setting up its first factory in Europe, which will produce semiconductor-grade synthetic diamonds.”

Diamond Foundry says it has raised $515 million in funding.

Top: The 2023 ground-breaking at Diamond Foundry’s Spanish factory (photo courtesy of Diamond Foundry)