Diamond & Quantum Weekly | Aug 31–Sep 6, 2026

The reporting window runs from 00:00 Beijing time on August 31 to 23:59 on September 6, 2026.

Weekly signal

The important development this week was not one isolated breakthrough. It was that functional diamond appeared simultaneously at several stages: material demonstration, customer validation, early orders and industrialization preparation. These stages can now be separated more precisely.

In China, China North Industries Group remains in the “samples sent, customers present, overall volume still small” stage. Huanghe Whirlwind again said its polycrystalline diamond heat spreaders have orders, but this is not a first disclosure: in May the company had already reported annual capacity of 20,000 8-inch heat spreaders and orders being delivered progressively. This week’s signal is therefore closer to a status reaffirmation than a new commercialization leap.

Huifeng Diamond and Super Fusion have entered sample-testing discussions, but Huifeng is also a strategic investor in Super Fusion. That makes the signal related-party industrial collaboration, not equivalent to fully independent customer qualification.

Another clear thread came from SEMICON Taiwan 2026. World Diamond Materials publicly presented a route to “accelerate mass production” of 300 mm diamond wafers, while the exhibition also showed a large object labelled “12-inch diamond wafer”. The available photograph cannot reliably identify the exhibitor. World Diamond’s own public wording also says process stabilization, yield improvement, customer validation and mass-production capability remain next-stage tasks. The 300 mm route belongs on a strong watchlist, not in the confirmed stable-capacity column.

This week’s key points

RFHIC formally launched the DiaFlux thermal-grade CVD diamond line

On September 1, RFHIC announced DiaFlux 150 and DiaFlux 180, with room-temperature thermal-conductivity figures of 1,500 and 1,800 W/(m·K), respectively. The plasma-assisted CVD products target high-power RF, microwave, optoelectronics and semiconductor packaging. Full specifications were scheduled for September 8.

RFHIC has long worked on GaN RF devices, so this is more significant than a materials company simply adding product SKUs. The next evidence to watch is device-level junction temperature, thermal resistance and reliability.

Domestic commercialization stages need recalibration

On September 3, China North Industries Group said functional diamond is mainly single crystal, generally no larger than 2 inches, with samples sent and customers present but overall volume still small. Huanghe Whirlwind again said its heat-spreader products have orders, but the May disclosure already covered 20,000 pieces of annual 8-inch capacity and progressive delivery. No new order scale was disclosed this week.

The Huifeng–Super Fusion sample-testing discussion should be classified as related-party collaborative validation because of their strategic-investment relationship, rather than independent customer design-in.

SEMICON Taiwan made large diamond wafers more visible

SEMICON Taiwan 2026 took place in Taipei from September 2 to 4. World Diamond Materials exhibited as S7546 in the official exhibitor directory and promoted a 300 mm diamond-wafer mass-production route through DigiTimes. A post by Bastien Vivenot also showed a large object labelled “12-inch diamond wafer”. The logo in the photograph cannot be reliably matched to World Diamond, so the image cannot independently verify the company attribution.

CVD diamond and MPCVD

RFHIC DiaFlux was the clearest new materials-product event of the week.

World Diamond’s 300 mm route represents a different evidence category. The company discussed WDCVD, large-area uniformity, thickness, flatness, internal stress and surface quality as mass-production issues, and said it was accelerating mass production. The same communication listed process stabilization, yield, customer validation and production-capability building as next-stage tasks.

The more defensible conclusion is: the 300 mm target and the sample or exhibition display deserve attention, but stable mass production has not been established.

No sufficient first-hand data confirmed that a newly added MPCVD project moved from equipment arrival or commissioning into stable effective capacity. Equipment counts, installation and displayed wafers cannot substitute for uptime, yield, batch consistency, output and revenue.

Quantum technology

During ICDCM 2026, Professor Hayase’s group at Keio University presented two NV quantum-sensing topics. One used continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance and RF-dressed states to extend AC magnetic-field detection frequency. The other used RF-dressed states for wide-field multiplexed imaging of temperature and AC magnetic field.

The first direction can be traced to the team’s earlier frequency-tunable CW-ODMR work and represents continued progress. The second still lacks a formal abstract or paper. Both belong in the D-QS-02 evidence chain, but neither currently supports a standalone article or commercialization judgment.

Conferences, exhibitions and industry activity

ICDCM 2026 ran from August 30 to September 3 in Donostia–San Sebastián. This reporting window covers August 31 through the closing day, so reports from DIAMFAB, HiQuTe and Hayase’s group belong in this issue rather than the next one.

DIAMFAB presented “Advancements in Diamond Power Devices: Progress Toward Industrialization” and an all-diamond p-n-p device. Its Chief of Staff Bastien Vivenot also visited Taipei during SEMICON Taiwan to discuss AI data-centre power efficiency, diamond power devices and partnership opportunities. The new signal is market development and industry interfacing, not completion of the pilot line itself.

SEMICON Taiwan 2026 was held at TaiNEX 1 and 2 from September 2 to 4. DIAMFAB confirmed its participation, World Diamond Materials exhibited at S7546, and a 12-inch diamond-wafer display appeared on site. The show became the week’s most visible intersection of large diamond, power electronics and AI thermal-management narratives.

Social-media check

DIAMFAB staff publicly described AI-GPU power efficiency as an important industry problem and connected diamond power devices with next-generation data-centre power. This is evidence of market positioning and a demand hypothesis. It is not evidence that NVIDIA has adopted DIAMFAB products, and references to Vera Rubin should not be rewritten as “Rubin uses diamond”.

Likewise, the 12-inch wafer photograph proves that such a display existed at the venue. Without a closed logo attribution, it cannot be assigned to World Diamond.

What to watch next

1. RFHIC’s full DiaFlux specifications on September 8: dimensions, tolerances, surface quality, test methods and supply form.
2. World Diamond’s 300 mm attribution, WDCVD technical materials, yield, customer trials and actual capacity.
3. DIAMFAB’s ICDCM materials, the real progress of its 4-inch route, pilot-line output and customer validation.
4. Domestic companies’ samples, related-party testing, independent customer tests, orders, repeat purchases and revenue, kept as separate evidence stages.

Full-edition preview

The full edition will examine why Huanghe Whirlwind’s “orders” should be treated as reaffirmation, how Huifeng’s capital relationship with Super Fusion changes the weight of its sample-testing signal, which links between the SEMICON Taiwan 12-inch display and World Diamond’s 300 mm statement remain open, and how DIAMFAB’s simultaneous presence at ICDCM and Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem indicates a move from technical validation toward market interfaces without yet proving scaled manufacturing.