The lab-grown diamond report market has become a sizable slice of the gem industry. In 2024 alone, the International Gemological Institute (IGI) generated approximately €107 million in revenue from lab-grown diamond certs, with profits exceeding $48 million and a commanding 65% market share.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), by contrast, controls only 5% of this market. Just a few years ago, there was room for substantial growth.
In the past, during the period when prices peaked, lab-grown diamonds were sold to the public at individual values exceeding €30,000. In that context, it was perfectly understandable for them to be accompanied by a GIA report.
In short, certifying lab-grown diamonds is becoming less and less profitable. In fact, GIA has long appeared uneasy with its role in this segment, and its newly announced move — to abandon the traditional 4Cs grading system for lab-grown diamonds and replace it with two broad categories: “premium” and “standard” — is only the latest in a series of about-faces.
This marks the third revision in roughly two decades of how GIA approaches grading synthetic stones. The first came in 2006, when the institute introduced general descriptors like “near colorless” and “VVS,” steering clear of the same scale used for natural diamonds. At the time, lab-growns were seen largely as a threat to market integrity, and the messaging from GIA emphasized a clear boundary.
Fast forward to 2019, and the institute removed the word “synthetic” from its reports. Then in 2020, it fully adopted the standard 4Cs grading system for lab-grown diamonds. That move coincided with skyrocketing prices and a surge in consumer interest — especially among younger buyers.
Now, the pendulum swings again. GIA’s Executive Vice President Tom Moses explained the shift: «More than 95% of laboratory-grown diamonds entering the market fall into a very narrow range of color and clarity. Because of that, it is no longer relevant for GIA to describe man-made diamonds using the nomenclature created for the continuum of color and clarity of natural diamonds».
The statement is technically sound — but many industry insiders note that this reality has been true for years. Lab-grown diamonds have long exhibited consistently high quality in both clarity and color, leaving little meaningful room for detailed differentiation.
GIA’s move to adopt simplified, broader grading categories is telling. As the value and margins of lab-grown diamonds continue to decline, so too does the need for fine-grained certification. It’s another signal — along with De Beers’ strategic retreat from synthetics and the ongoing flood of low-cost production — that lab-grown diamonds are rapidly moving into a new market phase.
No longer a luxury novelty, the lab-grown category is beginning to behave more like a commodity: abundant, standardized, and priced accordingly.
