Lab-Grown Diamonds: Why the UAE Is Building a Separate Market
The UAE traded 76.9 million carats of lab-grown diamonds in 2025, up 91.5 per cent year on year, while trade value rose 7.5 per cent to $1.3 billion. Against that growth, the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre has launched a dedicated platform for the lab-grown diamond industry.
The move reflects a shift in how the sector is being treated: not simply as an alternative source of jewellery stones, but as a market shaped by scalable manufacturing, technology and industrial demand.
What is Dubai’s lab-grown diamond platform?
DMCC’s new Lab-Grown Diamond Vertical will operate separately from its natural diamond and coloured stone activities. The platform is intended to connect producers, manufacturers, traders, investors, finance providers, technology companies and industrial users.
That separation recognises that lab-grown diamonds have different economics from natural diamonds. DMCC executive chairman and chief executive Ahmed bin Sulayem said: “Lab-grown diamonds have reached the point where they need dedicated market infrastructure and a distinct economic case of their own, developed alongside the natural diamond trade rather than in place of it.”
Why UAE lab-grown diamond trade is growing
UAE trade volumes have more than doubled from 36.8 million carats in 2022. Imports and re-exports have grown at broadly similar rates, while the total value of lab-grown diamond trade reached $1.3 billion in 2025.
The UAE’s total diamond trade reached a record $41.7 billion in 2025. DMCC is using that wider trading base as it seeks to position Dubai as a global hub for lab-grown diamonds.
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Where India, China and the US fit
China, India and the US have been central to the industry’s expansion, but their roles differ. China is a major centre for industrial-scale production and research. India has developed significant manufacturing and processing capacity. The US remains a key technology and consumer market.
For Dubai, connecting these parts of the industry is central to its hub strategy. The platform is designed to bring manufacturing, trade, capital, technology and end-user demand into the same market infrastructure.
What are lab-grown diamonds used for beyond jewellery?
Lab-grown diamonds are increasingly being developed for industrial applications because of their thermal, optical and semiconductor properties. Potential uses include semiconductors and diamond wafers, quantum technology, aerospace and precision engineering.
This shift in applications changes the sector’s market logic. Jewellery remains part of the trade, but demand can also come from industrial users that value diamond materials for technical performance.
What happens next for the sector?
DMCC has hosted two lab-grown diamond symposia and plans another for 2027. The new vertical gives the sector a dedicated platform as UAE trade expands and lab-grown diamonds move further into advanced technology and industrial applications.
The open question is how quickly those applications develop and how much of Dubai’s future activity comes from industrial demand rather than jewellery.
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