Question: What’s the capital of the world’s $80 billion gem business?

Did you say South Africa? London? New York?

How about Gresham, Oregon?

De Beers, the global diamond marketer, is building a $94 million plant in Gresham. When it opens in 2020, the Gresham lab will generate half a million rough carats a year in man-made, gem-quality diamonds.

De Beers has been around since 1888. The company has single-handedly built a near-monopoly of diamond production and distribution network. It has persuaded the world that “a diamond is forever” and has made flawless diamond gemstones synonymous with engagement rings.

Until this moment, De Beers has vowed never to sell man-made diamond jewelry, although it has manufactured diamonds for industrial applications for a half-century.

But on Tuesday, the company launched a low-ball line of high-brow gems: the chemical equivalent of natural diamonds, made from carbon “seeds” under precise heat and pressure settings to replicate the formation of the real thing.

These are not cubic zirconia. They’re diamonds in every respect.

There are already a few tech startups making diamonds already, but companies like Diamond Foundry in the United States and New Diamond Technology in Russia charge 60 to 70 percent as much for their manufacture stones as the natural ones cost. De Beers intends to significantly undercut its competitors, charging about $800 for a one-carat gem, compared to $4,000 or more a one-carat natural diamond.

It’s noteworthy that De Beers is not in any way suffering from a fall-off of demand or pricing for its high-end natural gemstones. Earlier this month, De Beers raised its prices slightly for the third straight month, according to Bloomberg News, citing activity at the most recent of De Beers’ 10 diamond sales per year in Botswana. Prices have increased 3.4 percent this year for rough diamonds, while margins polished stones in the secondary market have risen 4 percent, more for larger stones.

“People around the world are spending more on diamond jewelry than ever before, and it’s encouraging to see consumers in the U.S., the world’s largest and most mature market, leading the way,” De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver said in a statement. “Synthetics will never be as big as our natural business, and our investments into the space are dwarfed by those elsewhere, but we have a massive advantage over everyone else, given the know-how and infrastructure. So it’s something we have decided to be very serious about.”

The company is deploying a compelling two-pronged strategy. De Beers can flood the market with mass-produced gems at a far lower cost than any competitor — and, by the way, it plans to do so by direct-to-consumer online purchase, cutting out the jewelry store or retailer. Meanwhile, the genuine article — a natural, flawless diamond gem — becomes evermore the possession of an exclusive, uber-wealthy customer. One could argue that it mirrors a trend of sustaining, even widening a gap between social classes. Maybe.

So, price is not the object these days. Not when Britain’s new Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, is sporting a three-carat engagement diamond valued at a minimum $350,000. Of course, Prince Harry didn’t pay for the diamond he and William inherited from their mother, Princess Diana. Come to think of it, do the royals pay for anything?

It’s not for us to advise young couples how to go about their courtship ritual. But maybe it’s not for the diamond industry to advise them, either. Let’s just keep in mind that the diamond ring is supposed to be a symbol of steadfast love — and that their love is why people marry, not the ring.