Artificial intelligence is soaking up capital and electricity at a historic pace—two forces that could ripple through commodity markets, including silver. Beyond jewelry and coins, silver is a critical input for circuit boards, electrical contacts, and solar panels. Industrial demand for the metal hit an all-time high of 680.5 million ounces in 2024, led by electronics and photovoltaics, according to the Silver Institute’s latest annual survey. The Institute also noted that AI-related end-uses boosted consumer electronics shipments, further lifting silver offtake.
Meanwhile, the global silver market has been running structural deficits for several years; 2024’s shortfall was about 149 million ounces, with another sizable deficit expected in 2025. Prices responded: silver surged past $39/oz in August 2025, the highest in more than 13 years.
This price increase has followed increases in gold prices, which reached a record-high of more than $3,500 earlier this year.
“If you look at history, the gold market has always led the silver market,” says Kevin DeMeritt, founder of precious metals firm Lear Capital. “Gold’s going to have a move before silver plays catch-up in almost any time period that you could track since 1974. Gold markets run, silver markets come after it.”
Four Ways AI Can Pull Silver Demand Higher
1) A bigger electronics refresh cycle
AI is driving fresh device categories (AI PCs; AI-capable smartphones) and a broader refresh in servers and networking gear. The Silver Institute attributes part of 2024’s industrial-demand record to electronics and electrical uses, explicitly flagging a boost from AI-related applications. While the amount of silver per device is small, the volumes are enormous, and electronics is one of silver’s largest end-use buckets.
Market watchers expect rapid adoption of AI devices. IDC and other firms project that AI-capable PCs with specific system-on-a-chip capabilities will account for 60% of all PC shipments by 2027, and AI-enabled smartphones will reach 70% of the market by 2028. That points to steady underlying demand for the conductors, solders, and contacts where silver excels.
2) More data centers → more electricity → more solar → more silver
The International Energy Agency projects that global data-center power demand will more than double by 2030—to roughly 945 TWh, with demand from AI-optimized facilities more than quadrupling. In the IEA’s base case, renewables will provide nearly half of the additional electricity required in the next five years. This is crucial for silver because modern solar cells still rely on silver pastes for their most conductive pathways.
This is not a theoretical link. Silver used in solar hit a new high in 2024 (about 197.6 Moz) despite ongoing efforts to reduce silver per cell. The Silver Institute expects thrifting, or the process of reducing total silver required for a panel to continue, yet total PV demand still set another record as installations soared. Even though newer solar panels use less silver per unit, the rapid growth in solar installations has more than offset these reductions in usage.
3) Grid build-outs and electrification
Beyond panels and devices, AI’s energy appetite requires grid upgrades: transformers, switchgear, relays, and a long tail of components that use silver-coated contacts for reliability. The Silver Institute links industrial demand strength to the broader spread of the “green economy,” including grids and vehicle electrification, which together are expected to help keep electronics/electrical usage at record levels.
4) Supply constraints can amplify price moves
A constraint in silver supply, despite substantial AI-based increases in demand, could drive an increase in price. Silver is often produced as a by-product of mining other metals, so supply is relatively slow to respond to price spikes. And recent policy shifts in Mexico, the world’s top silver producer, tightened concessions and permitting and raised regulatory uncertainty, a reminder that mine supply faces jurisdictional risks.
What Silver Trends Is Lear Capital Watching?
Lear Capital, a precious-metals dealer operating for over 25 years, has been discussing AI’s effects on silver. A recent survey of approximately 300 Lear Capital subscribers revealed that silver was their top educational priority, with 59% wanting to learn more about the metal. Artificial intelligence ranked third at 38%, suggesting precious metals purchasers are tracking both silver and the technology that could drive its industrial demand higher.
DeMeritt argues that AI adoption is now a competitive necessity.
“If you don’t embrace this and try to figure out how to get it into your company, you’re going to be left behind,” he says.
He also notes the operational reality driving spend: AI can automate “heavy lifting” tasks and scale far beyond human capacity:
“You can now do things like make 1,000 calls in 10 minutes. You can’t get 100 people to do that.”
From a market-structure perspective, DeMeritt’s timeline aligns with what the IEA and Wall Street expect: big tech hyperscalers like Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon are projected to spend hundreds of billions on AI-related infrastructure in the coming years. Analysts have argued that the electricity to power this growing infrastructure network will increasingly come from renewables, including silver-dependent solar.
What Could Derail AI-Driven Silver Demand?
- Aggressive silver thrifting or successful copper substitution in solar and electronics could cap solar-related silver growth, even as installations rise. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that manufacturers are already pushing new metallization techniques to reduce silver per watt.
- Slower AI spending growth or energy bottlenecks: if data-center spending decelerates or grid constraints bite, the “AI → power → solar → silver” chain could stretch out. While data center spending seems unlikely to decline given AI adoption rates, concerns about straining energy grids remain.
- Price elasticity: High silver prices can curb some industrial uses or accelerate substitution efforts, leading to potential price adjustments.
Bottom line
On today’s numbers, the AI cycle strengthens—not replaces—the existing green-economy drivers of silver. Electronics and solar are already the two biggest engines of industrial demand, which hit a record high in 2024. If AI keeps pushing device refreshes, data-center build-outs and renewable generation, the setup is supportive for silver demand beyond traditional uses—even with ongoing thrifting. It’s a scenario in which the modern AI-enabled economy would quietly lean on a very old metal.