Diamond milling allows for the flexible production of optical and high precision parts, but suffers from poor setup and production speeds. This paper presents recent advances that aim towards achieving high performance (HPC) and high speed cutting (HSC) in ultra-precision machining. After a short introduction, the benefits of high speed cutting for both metals and brittle-hard materials are shown. Thereafter, novel mechatronic devices are presented that enable an automated balancing of the applied air bearing spindles and the application of multiple diamond tools on one tool holder and by thus, contribute to HPC. These developments are supplemented by a novel linear guiding system based on electromagnatic levitation that, along with a dedicated model-based control system, enables fast and precise movements of the machine tool. After presenting the recent developments in detail, their synergistic performance is assessed and an outlook to future developments is given. © 2020 The Authors