How the AI Industry is Reshaping Demand for Physical Gold and Silver

The current AI boom has everyone talking about software and technology stocks, but what about precious metals? The physical infrastructure demanded by data centres – including advanced microchips and new power builds – all depends on the unique physical properties of precious metals.

In this blog, we explore how the AI industry is reshaping demand for physical silver and gold.

The AI boom is physical

The artificial intelligence (AI) boom often sounds like a digital revolution that exists purely in software, algorithms, and code. But every AI model and query requires a massive amount of physical infrastructure – sprawling data centres packed with high-performance processors, memory modules, networking equipment, cooling systems, and continuous power supply.

As a result, AI is driving one of the largest industrial build-outs in modern history.

Massive capital spend

The world’s largest technology companies are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars directly into physical data centre hardware and construction. For example, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet (Google) announced plans to increase their AI infrastructure spending to between US$720 billion and $745 billion, up from $410 billion in 2025 (MLQ.ai).

Annual data centre capital expenditures are forecast to rise from roughly US$800 billion per year in 2026 to $1.8 trillion per year in 2050, with the majority of long-term capital investment driven by recurring chip upgrades (PricewaterhouseCoopers).

Surging power needs

Global data centre electricity consumption is projected to grow 26% in 2026, reaching 565 terawatt hours (TWh) compared to 2025’s 447 TWh (Gartner). That figure is projected to reach 945 TWh by 2030 – a total that would roughly match Japan’s entire current electricity consumption, with AI-focused facilities driving the bulk of that growth (International Energy Agency, Energy demand from AI).

Explosive capacity growth

Global data centre power capacity has grown over 200% in the last decade, from 26 gigawatts (GW) in 2015 to 81 GW in 2024. This capacity is estimated to reach 222 GW by 2030, driven mainly by the increasing power demands of AI and cloud computing (Macquarie Group, Data centres: Powering the growth of AI and cloud computing).

The sheer scale of this build-out requires an enormous amount of raw materials, of which both silver and gold play an important role: silver for its conductivity in electronics and photovoltaic (PV) cells, and gold for its use in corrosion-resistant connectors, bonding wires, and precision components.

Silver inside the machine and the grid

Silver is the most electrically and thermally conductive metal on the periodic table. This makes it a core component in almost every electric and electronic device, from computer keyboards and remote controls to semiconductors and microchips.

Industrial applications account for more than half of total global silver demand, with AI data centres, grid infrastructure, and electronics all highlighted as growing sources of industrial demand (Silver Institute, World Silver Survey 2026).

Silver’s use in AI and data centres spans across computer hardware, cooling infrastructure, networking, and more.

High-speed interconnects and connectors

AI queries consume significantly more energy than traditional search engine requests, generating substantial heat and potential signal degradation. Silver plating is standard across PCIe slots, power connectors, and backplane contacts because its low electrical resistance minimises heat build-up and maintains signal integrity under heavy, continuous loads.

Read: Where Does Silver Come From?

Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)

Printed circuit boards (PCBs) inside server motherboards, graphics accelerators, and networking switches use silver-based conductive inks to trace the electric pathways. These routes carry high-frequency data and power, where silver’s low resistivity prevents data corruption as computing clock speeds climb.

Thermal management

AI chips run hot under continuous processing, which can cause throttling and, eventually failure. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) move heat away from processors by filling a microscopic gap between a chip and its cooling solution. Silver-loaded compounds – which use micronised silver particles – offer much higher thermal conductivity than standard ceramic pastes, making them an essential part of the cooling systems used across server racks.

Power electronics and switchgear

AI server racks draw anywhere from 60 to over 130 kilowatts each, compared to just 10 to 15 kilowatts for traditional servers. It takes a lot of heavy-duty infrastructure to safely manage this high-voltage power. Silver is the industry-standard material for contacts in circuit breakers, relays, and power-distribution switchgear, handling electrical arc erosion and oxidation far better than alternative metals.

5G and Edge networks

AI applications rely on low-latency networks to feed data from the physical world to cloud data centres. To handle these high-speed data volumes, the hardware underpinning 5G networks depends heavily on silver’s conductivity.

Where precious and industrial metals sit across the physical AI build-out. Sources: materials-science literature; Silver Institute; World Gold Council.

Silver and the power build-out

Operating data centre facilities takes tremendous amounts of electricity. In the United States alone, data centre electricity demand is projected to reach 7.8% of the country’s total power consumption by 2030, up from roughly 4% in 2025. In Europe, that share is expected to reach 5% (Gartner).

With electrical grids under strain with data centre usage, tech giants are increasingly looking to increase their solar power capacity. In 2024 alone, Microsoft added more than 860 megawatts of new solar capacity. Meanwhile, Meta has developed three projects totalling over 900 megawatts while Amazon leads the charge with 13.6 gigawatts of solar capacity in progress (Data Centre Knowledge).

Because of silver's high conductivity, almost every standard silicon PV cell uses silver. Silver powder is mixed into a paste and screen-printed into microscopic pathways across the surface of the cell to collect the electricity generated by sunlight and transfer it out of the module. It stands to reason, then, that as demand for alternative power generation increases with AI adoption, so too does the demand for silver.

The role of solar thrifting

Silver’s price has surged in recent years, and solar panel manufacturers have been reducing the amount of metal used in an effort to lower production costs. This process is known as ‘thrifting’ and it has reduced the amount of silver demanded by the solar industry. Silver demand from solar is expected to adjust to roughly 151 million ounces in 2026, down from 186.6 million ounces in 2025, primarily due to thrifting (Silver Institute, World Silver Survey 2026).

That said, even with individual panels becoming more silver efficient, the total number of solar installations is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace to meet expanding power grid demands. In 2025, electronics accounted for roughly 25% of total US silver consumption and photovoltaics about 15% (US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026)

As tech companies continue building out renewable energy projects to power their AI facilities, solar panels remain a major and continuous source of physical silver demand.

Keep Reading: What Drives Silver Prices?

Gold — a smaller but real role

Gold’s connection to the AI boom is split into two distinct channels: a small but essential role in hardware, and a historical tendency for investors to buy gold during periods of major economic and technological change.

Gold’s use in AI hardware and electronics

Unlike silver, gold’s industrial role is small compared to its total market – overall, technology only accounts for roughly 6% to 7% of global gold demand (World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends: Q4 and Full Year 2025). About 270 tonnes of gold was used in electronics in 2025, roughly the same level as in 2024.

That said, high-performance and AI related computing has actively supported this baseline demand. Even though the quantity of gold used in a server or AI processor is microscopic – amounting to just a few milligrams of bonding wire, memory substrate coatings, and contact points – its physical properties make it nearly irreplaceable:

• Corrosion resistance: Unlike other conductive metals, gold does not oxidise or corrode under heavy, continuous thermal stress
• Uninterrupted reliability: High-performance computing clusters cannot risk downtime. While consumer electronics might compromise on materials to save costs, AI server infrastructure prioritises long-term signal integrity over marginal reductions in component costs.

At the end of the day, even though individual servers contain very little gold, deploying millions of chips across hundreds of global data centre campuses is likely to create steady and ongoing demand for precision gold components. However, thrifting remains an issue with gold as it does with silver, with higher gold prices creating a bigger incentive for manufacturers to minimise usage or seek substitutes.

Investor demand for gold during technological shifts

The greater link between gold and the AI boom comes from investor psychology rather than industrial demand.

When we look back throughout history, every major technological shift has coincided with capital growth and economic transformation. During these cycles of rapid change, investors have historically sought out physical, tangible assets alongside their growth holdings. While growth holdings capture the upside of innovation, physical assets provide structural stability and intrinsic value.

With AI-related equity valuations ballooning in recent years, many institutional and retail investor portfolios have become increasingly concentrated in emerging technology sectors. Based on what we’ve seen historically, investors may be turning gold to provide a counterweight that balances intangible assets with tangible ones.

Read More: Exploring the Role of Gold as an Effective Hedge Against Inflation

Holding the physical metal

The current AI revolution is just as much a physical transformation as it is a digital one, requiring immense build-outs, high-performance hardware, and power capacity that increases demand for precious metals like silver and gold. 

How gold and silver relate to the AI build-out differently. Sources: World Gold Council; World Silver Survey 2026 (Metals Focus); IEA.

Investors wishing to gain exposure to these metals have two main options:

1. Owning physical gold and silver in the form of bullion bars or coins
2. Investing in ‘paper’ gold and silver via exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Gold and silver bullion offers direct, tangible ownership that you can hold in your hand. These assets have intrinsic value, zero counterparty risk, and exist completely outside the digital financial system.

For those choosing to hold physical gold and silver, StoneX Bullion offers investment-grade gold and silver bars sourced from LBMA-accredited refiners. Our platform is secure and transparent: metal prices are updated live every 60 seconds and every shipment is fully insured.

Browse our selection of gold and silver bullion products today.