A new market study commissioned by the Silver Institute and produced by Oxford Economics projects that global silver industrial demand will keep climbing through the end of the decade, driven by solar manufacturing, electric vehicle production, and the buildout of data centers powering artificial intelligence systems.

Solar photovoltaic manufacturing has become one of the largest single drivers of silver consumption. The sector's share of total industrial silver demand grew from 11% in 2014 to 29% in 2024, even as manufacturers have found ways to reduce the amount of silver used per solar cell. The European Union's target of at least 700 gigawatts of installed solar capacity by 2030 is expected to keep pressure on silver consumption in that sector, a dynamic with parallels in the United States as utility-scale solar installations expand.

Electric vehicles represent a second major growth driver. Battery-electric vehicles use 67% to 79% more silver than gasoline-powered vehicles, with each EV requiring roughly 25 to 50 grams of the metal for battery management systems, power electronics, and electrical contacts. The report forecasts automotive silver demand will grow at a compound annual rate of 3.4% between 2025 and 2031, with EVs overtaking combustion vehicles as the primary source of automotive silver demand by 2027 and accounting for 59% of that demand by 2031.

Data centers built to support cloud computing and AI workloads add a newer source of demand. The report estimates global information technology power capacity grew roughly 53-fold between 2000 and 2025, a buildout that is accelerating in the United States as hyperscale data center construction expands.

Source: Silver Institute -- https://silverinstitute.org/silver-demand-forecast-to-expand-across-key-technology-sectors/