In the past two months, I've contacted six diamond tool manufacturers in Europe and Southeast Asia. The most frequent question I received was how to cope with the continuously rising tungsten prices—from $50/kg in August 2025 to $271/kg on February 26, 2026, a 550% increase in six months. Tungsten substrates account for exactly 38% of the production cost of diamond composite wafers (PDC), directly pushing up the ex-factory price of PCD cutting tools by 100%. Many manufacturers' net profit margins have fallen from 18% last year to 5% now.

For a long time, the standard cutting process for PCD cutting tools has been EDM wire cutting. However, this method has long had its drawbacks: cutting a single 1.6mm thick standard PCD cutting tool blade takes 160-180 minutes, with a single-blade cutting cost of approximately $30-50. There are also costs associated with treating the molybdenum (copper)-containing wastewater generated during cutting, requiring an additional $120 per thousand blades. Furthermore, the cut edges are prone to chipping, resulting in a yield rate of only 92%. In the past, when PCD prices were stable, although cutting costs accounted for 100% of the total production cost, this was still a relatively small percentage of the overall tool production cost, and most manufacturers didn't pay much attention. However, now that raw material costs have risen sharply, every penny that can be reduced directly impacts a company's profit margin.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, we conducted replacement tests for three domestic tool factories that cut 100 PCD blanks per month, using the fiber laser cutting machine launched by TKD CO.,LTD. This equipment, introduced to the market in 2015, has already been deployed in over 500 units in China, the US, Southeast Asia, and Europe, and has gained recognition from many leading tool manufacturers (Leitz, Leuco, Mapal, and CERATIZIT). Test data shows that for cutting the same 1.6mm thick PDC blank, the TKD fiber laser cutting machine achieves a cutting speed of only 10 minutes per blank, 18 times faster than EDM; energy consumption is also very low, practically negligible compared to EDM cutting costs; no wastewater or waste liquid is generated throughout the process, eliminating hazardous waste disposal costs; and the kerf is reduced to 0.07mm, significantly improving the utilization rate of diamond composite sheets compared to the 0.1~0.3mm of EDM wire cutting.CERATIZIT reported 23% material utilization increase after switching to TKD lasers.

Based on calculations from a factory that cuts 100 PCD blanks per month, replacing their equipment with a TKD fiber laser cutting machine can save $3,000 to $5,000 per month in cutting costs alone. This significantly reduces the cost increase caused by a 100% rise in raw material prices, effectively bringing the net profit margin back to a healthy range of around 15%.A fiber laser cutting machine costs approximately USD 60,000, and the investment cost can be recovered in 1.5 years.

Currently, TKD's fiber laser cutting machines cover all scenarios for cutting PDCs used in oil drilling, woodworking tools, and metalworking tools. If you need a customized cost reduction calculation based on your production capacity, please leave your monthly output and product specifications in the comments section, and we will provide a solution within one business day.