The AI Boom's Unsung HeroThe rise of artificial intelligence isn’t just shaking up tech companies it’s quietly transforming the global silver market in a big way. As major players like NVIDIA, Google and others ramp up their AI infrastructure silver is becoming more critical than ever. Why? Because silver, thanks to its unmatched electrical conductivity, plays a key role in powering the hardware behind AI.
Silver is the most conductive metal on Earth. That makes it perfect for high-performance computing something AI needs a lot of. It’s especially important in data centers and advanced semiconductors, where both electrical and thermal performance are mission-critical.
What’s really interesting is that AI servers tend to use two to three times more silver than traditional data center servers. That’s because AI workloads are more power-hungry, generate more heat and require more complex cooling and electrical systems. Simply put, more AI means more silver.
If there’s one company at the heart of this trend it’s NVIDIA. Analysts at Morgan Stanley expect NVIDIA to consume a staggering 77% of all silicon wafers used for AI accelerators in 2025 up from 51% in 2024. That adds up to around 535,000 300-mm wafers a year each of which contains silver in key components.
All of this AI growth is showing up in the numbers. Industrial silver demand hit an all-time high of 680.5 million ounces in 2024. The electronics industry alone uses around 250 million ounces per year and AI is now the fastest-growing part of that.
Despite all this demand, silver supply just isn’t keeping up. The market’s been in deficit for four straight years, with a total shortfall of 678 million ounces between 2021 and 2024. That’s roughly ten months of global mine output gone missing from the balance sheet.
It’s no surprise, then, that silver prices have been climbing fast. As of July 2025 silver’s up nearly 30% for the year. Looking further ahead I see room for silver to keep climbing:
In the short term (2025): $36–$42 per ounce seems realistic
By 2026: Potential for $50+ as more AI growth stays strong
AI isn’t just changing how we work, communicate, or compute—it’s literally reshaping the commodities that make this technology possible. Silver, once thought of mainly in the context of jewelry or coins, is now a backbone material for the AI revolution.
