CVD reactor capacity additions are outpacing near-term demand growth

New CVD reactor capacity coming online continues to outpace near-term demand growth, the underlying imbalance behind lab-grown prices still falling, even if more slowly than before.

• Reactor investment decisions made a few years ago, during a period of stronger demand growth, are still coming online now, adding supply into a more moderate demand environment.
• Some growers have slowed or paused new capacity additions in response, which is part of why the rate of price decline has itself slowed.
• A genuine rebalancing would likely require either a period of little new capacity or a fresh acceleration in demand, and there's no clear sign of either yet.

For buyers, this continues to favour waiting on price for lab-grown specifically, unlike natural where the calculus has shifted. Contact us for a current view on where a specification sits.