Cultivated diamonds are disrupting the industry landscape. Global mining giants admit they have underestimated the threat and responded too slowly.

Mining giant Anglo American has stated that the entire diamond industry, including its subsidiary De Beers, has underestimated the threat of lab-grown diamonds, a new product that has significantly impacted the natural diamond market. De Beers, founded in 1888, is the worlds largest diamond production company. Due to continued pressure on the global natural diamond market, Anglo American has lowered De Beers valuation three times in the past three years. Some industry insiders believe that consumers' shift towards lower-priced lab-grown diamonds is the result of marketing missteps in the natural diamond sector; meanwhile, retailers are benefiting from the increased sales and higher profit margins of lab-grown diamonds. Anglo American CEO Duncan Wanblad stated in an interview, In retrospect, we might have needed to take a more proactive approach to the competitive signals posed by lab-grown diamonds.