End of Silicon? CVD Diamond Wafers Promise Massive Compute Leaps
nptacek · x · 2026-08-10
Industry commentary points out that while silicon chips and fabs currently dominate and absorb massive capital, the technology to manufacture large diamond wafers is already here. Diamond is a significantly superior compute substrate compared to silicon, offering 10-15x improvement in thermal conductivity, 30x in electrical breakdown field, 5x in band gap, and 3x in saturated electron velocity. Synthetic diamond boards and etched chips are expected to drive the next paradigm leap in compute infrastructure.
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