Could AI and Data Centres Change the Long-Term Demand for Silver?

AI has not only changed how companies manage data, but it has also changed how data is managed across businesses more broadly. Any kind of AI system uses some physical infrastructure - servers, network equipment, power supply, cooling, and more complex data centers.

As investments in this infrastructure grow, demand increases for materials used to build and operate it.

Among those materials is silver metal. It is usually associated with being a precious metal, but it is also highly conductive to both heat and electricity. This property can be used in all electronic applications, linking the development of AI infrastructure and demand for silver.

Why Silver Matters to Modern Technology

Silver has the highest electrical conductivity of any metal and excellent thermal conductivity, making it valuable in a wide range of electronic and industrial applications.

Silver is already being used in the electronics industry in electrical contacts, switches, circuit components, connectors, and conductive materials. It may not be obvious to users but can be significant in the underlying hardware that drives modern digital systems.

Even though there was weak demand for PV in 2026, the report of the the Silver Institute’s  World Silver Survey 2026 highlighted the structural demand for electrical and electronics supported by sectors such as grid infrastructure, automobiles, and AI electronics.

This is significant. AI does not just generate a new and isolated silver market. On the other hand, it can raise demand in multiple or interrelated technologies that utilize silver-containing elements.

The Relationship Between AI and Data Centers

To make AI models work effectively, one needs much computing power. Data centers will contain servers, storage, network infrastructure, power infrastructure, cooling systems, etc.

The more data centers there are, the more servers, electrical devices, power equipment, and other hardware there will be. The more powerful such equipment becomes, the more it requires reliable power sources and advanced power control elements.

Thus, this can become a roundabout way through which the growth of silver demand can be supported by AI.

What Can Drive Further Silver Demand?

The biggest driver of growing silver demand may not be any specific AI component. Instead, it may depend on the scale of the infrastructure as a whole. 

AI data centers should be fitted with high-capacity computer equipment, network infrastructure, power supply systems, backup solutions, and cooling equipment. Alongside the demand for electricity for expansion purposes, there is also the demand for additional electricity infrastructure that would provide electricity to these facilities.

Silver serves as an electrical contact, conductive components, and other places that require conductivity. As a result, the areas that would experience future growth in the demand for silver are data centers, AI, the automotive industry and electric vehicles, and solar energy.

The effect can become even stronger as AI usage becomes more widespread and requires much more computing power.

AI's Growing Energy Footprint Matters Too

AI and silver, you would think they're far removed in terms of how they're connected, but they are not.

Global data centre electricity demand rose by 17%, and electricity demand from AI-driven data centres even more, in 2025, according to the latest analysis by the IEA. An updated forecast shows that by 2030, total data centre electricity use will increase by about a factor of 2, from 485 TWh in 2025 to 950 TWh by 2030. 

A large portion of investment is needed in generation, transmission and distribution, power electronics, transformers and other electrical equipment to meet this demand.

That is significant because silver is already a significant industrial metal for use in electrical applications. This means that the growth of AI infrastructure might have an impact on silver demand outside the data centre itself.

Why Higher AI Demand Does Not Guarantee Higher Silver Consumption

The long-term outlook is more complex than it may seem. Given the rising cost of silver, manufacturers will be motivated to use less silver in each part, as there are now alternatives from the technological point of view. The solar industry case is illustrative here.

While the number of installations worldwide is on the rise, silver usage in PV applications has been falling owing to technological advancements, thrifting, and substitution, states the Silver Institute.

This can be the same for AI-specific electronic devices. Efficiency gains could lead to a reduction in silver use in each piece of equipment. There can be alternative materials used instead of silver in some cases. Moreover, increasingly efficient computer chips and data centres might require less infrastructure to produce the same volume of computing.

Therefore, what matters is not only whether the AI infrastructure is expanding but whether the overall growth of hardware and electrical structures exceeds the rate of reduction in the silver intensity.

Supply Could Become an Important Part of the Story

Silver comes from primary silver mines, but a significant portion is also produced as a by-product of mining other metals. This can make silver's supply less elastic than some investors may think with respect to changes in the price of silver.

However, this extra consumption brought about by new technologies may prove to worsen the market situation as long as the industrial demand keeps rising against the backdrop of low industrial supply growth. But there is always something happening economically and technologically which will modify the deficits, prices, and the reaction of supply in the future.

What This Might Imply for Future Silver Demand

This time around, however, it will not be just the AI era and data centers alone that will drive the silver demand. The market will still be affected by solar energy, electric vehicles, grid investment, electronics, industrial demand, and investments.

The most intriguing aspect about the use of AI technology is that it could be implemented in a wide range of industries, and it will have common needs for its infrastructure. With growing data centers, more computing hardware, electricity generation, lines of transmission, power management technologies, and infrastructure will be required.

It is only time that will show the effect of all these changes on the demand for silver in the future because all technological factors that will affect silver will decrease the demand for the metal.

Silver: A Different Role

Silver can be described as the point of contact between investments in precious metals and the industrial use of these metals due to new technological advances like AI, electronics, and renewable energy.

Bullion investors can benefit from understanding demand trends, as this can provide insight into silver’s position among other precious metals. Here at Perth Bullion Exchange, we offer our clients the opportunity to trade in physical bullion and information on market forces impacting silver.