The narrative arc of the transformation of De Beers is like something out of a William Gibson novel. The firm has long held a worldwide monopoly on the supply of natural diamonds, and now it’s angling to become the leading supplier of synthetic diamond for use in the computer chips that could make microprocessors 10 to 20 times faster than their current speeds.
It would be good that the monopoly is done for, but what if it just opens up a new one?
via Technology Review.
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