Element Six — vendor dossier

Element Six

Enabling supply chain
E

Element Six is the synthetic-diamond foundry of the De Beers Group, designing and manufacturing CVD- and HPHT-grown diamond with controlled defect content. Supplies the substrates that solid-state quantum programmes built on NV (nitrogen-vacancy) and SiV (silicon-vacancy) colour centres depend on, via the DNV-B1 / DNV-B14 ensemble product lines and electronic- grade single-crystal diamond for single-defect work in quantum-memory and repeater nodes. Supplies substrates to multiple diamond-defect quantum-networking programmes, including QuTech, Harvard, Lightsynq (equity stake Nov 2024), IonQ, AWS, and Quantum Brilliance. Does not build quantum end-systems itself.

HQ
Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK
Founded
1946
Status
private
Parent
de-beers-group
Last verified
Wed May 20 2026 08:00:00 GMT+0800 (Singapore Standard Time)

Timeline

20222023202420252026202720282029today
2022
DNV-B14 grade launched — high-density NV ensemble diamond with ~10x NV density vs DNV-B1, targeted at sensing, masers, gyroscopes
2023-04
AWS and De Beers Group / Element Six announce a research collaboration on synthetic-diamond materials for quantum networking (AWS Center for Quantum Networking)
2024-11
Element Six takes an equity stake in Lightsynq, a Harvard / AWS-CQN spin-out building SiV-based quantum interconnects using Element Six diamond
2025-09
IonQ and Element Six announce quantum-grade diamond thin films bonded onto silicon and silicon-nitride substrates, compatible with standard semiconductor foundries — building block for scalable quantum memories and photonic interconnects on IonQ's roadmap
Founded 1946 shipped milestone public roadmap

Current flagship

DNV-B14 + quantum-grade diamond thin films (IonQ-bonded) — high-density NV ensemble substrate (DNV-B14) and foundry-compatible diamond-on-silicon thin films (with IonQ, 2025)

Milestones

  1. 2025-09
    IonQ and Element Six announce quantum-grade diamond thin films bonded onto silicon and silicon-nitride substrates, compatible with standard semiconductor foundries — building block for scalable quantum memories and photonic interconnects on IonQ's roadmap
    Enabling supply chain press source ↗
  2. 2024-11
    Element Six takes an equity stake in Lightsynq, a Harvard / AWS-CQN spin-out building SiV-based quantum interconnects using Element Six diamond
    Enabling supply chain press source ↗
  3. 2023-04
    AWS and De Beers Group / Element Six announce a research collaboration on synthetic-diamond materials for quantum networking (AWS Center for Quantum Networking)
    Enabling supply chain press source ↗
  4. 2022
    DNV-B14 grade launched — high-density NV ensemble diamond with ~10x NV density vs DNV-B1, targeted at sensing, masers, gyroscopes
    Enabling supply chain press source ↗

Roadmap

No public roadmap recorded.

Capability details

10 unverified fields
  • roadmap — Element Six does not publish a public quantum-materials roadmap; future product launches surface as one-off press releases tied to customer programmes (e.g. IonQ thin films, Lightsynq SiV substrates).
  • modalities.memories.storage_time_ms
  • modalities.memories.retrieval_efficiency
  • modalities.memories.fidelity
  • modalities.memories.wavelength_nm
  • modalities.memories.mode_capacity
  • modalities.memories — Element Six is a substrate supplier, not a device vendor — memory metrics belong to the customer device (Delft / Harvard / Lightsynq / IonQ nodes) built on the substrate, not to Element Six itself.
  • shareholders.0 — De Beers Group is being demerged from Anglo American (announced 2024); post-demerger ownership structure not finalised in public filings on this verification pass.
  • revenue
  • headcount

People

  • Siobhán Duffy — Chief Executive Officer (since 2023-02) ↗

References