Cutting roughness lower than 10 μm and a wall‐plug efficiency of 30% including cooling are two nameable advantages when speaking about direct diode laser cutting of metals. Emphasizing in this context “direct diode laser” stress that metal cutting with a diode laser is not a conventional process. However, steady developments in diode bar technology enabled the design of a high brightness diode laser system with 2 kW output power and a beam parameter product of 22 mm*mrad. This now commercially available “DIOCUT” system is ready to enter the laser macro cutting market. The applicability of this system is demonstrated by cutting aluminum, stainless steel, copper and mild steel. The cutting edge quality is comparable with CO2 laser cuts. On our roadmap is higher output power at equal beam quality in near future.