Element Six was a company under the De Beers Group that developed and manufactured synthetic diamonds and hard alloys.
The natural diamond business had become increasingly difficult in recent years.
As early as 2024, Anglo American had announced plans to sell or spin off its 85 percent stake in the De Beers Group.
By now, De Beers' shareholders included an investment consortium involving the governments of Botswana, Namibia, and Angola.
That gave Element Six backing from several countries, while the company itself was a multinational with operations around the globe.
Its Global Innovation Centre was in the United Kingdom, its main production facilities were spread across Ireland, South Africa, and Germany, and its research clients included national laboratories under the United States Department of Energy.
Although the board could decide whom the company partnered with, any technology transfer would face British scrutiny and pressure from Washington, D.C.
Ever since Colby had proposed taking their own core technology to Huaxia to secure a way forward for the company, the board had been sharply divided.
London's position was clear. The United Kingdom's National Security and Investment Act had long classified advanced materials as a sensitive sector. Transfers involving core intellectual property could be called in for review whenever they posed a national security risk.
Washington's response had been even more direct: the core processes for electronic-grade single-crystal diamond could not be handed over to Huaxia. There was no room for negotiation.
As for how the company intended to survive, that was the board's problem.
Even the African shareholders were unwilling to offend both London and Washington for the sake of a single institute and some nebulous promise of a future for the company.
For precisely that reason, the proposal had never passed a board vote before Huaxia's military parade.
After the August