The silver price has extended its rally, briefly exceeding the $80 per ounce mark, thus marking another all-time high. According to many market observers, the trigger is not a short-term speculative excess, but an increasingly structural imbalance in the silver market: supply is only growing to a limited extent, while demand is increasing simultaneously in several core sectors.
According to the World Silver Survey 2025, the market is now in its fifth consecutive year of a structural supply deficit. Inventories have fallen to multi-year lows, while the availability of refined silver remains under pressure.
On the supply side, growth remains limited as mine production is difficult to expand and recycling flows are stagnating.
A large proportion of global silver production continues to be generated as a by-product in lead, zinc or copper mines – here, producers are primarily responding to the demand for base metals, not the silver price.
In other words, even significantly higher prices have so far not triggered a rapid, noticeable expansion of primary production. This is contrasted by a demand that is concentrated in areas where silver is difficult to replace.
AI, solar power and electronics drive silver and gold demand
Silver is a key control material for the energy transition. In photovoltaic cells, high-performance electronics and modern connection technologies, the metal is used as an indispensable conductor. Although the absolute silver requirement per solar module is low, the sheer volume of newly installed capacity means that the solar industry already accounts for a significant share of global consumption – with a further upward trend.
At the same time, a second, dynamic demand block is growing: artificial intelligence (AI). Data centers for AI applications are not only software-intensive, but also material-intensive. According to forecasts, the electricity demand of data centers is likely to increase by well over 100% by 2030 as large cloud providers expand their AI clusters. Each new server generation, each additional rack means more power electronics, more highly reliable contacts – and therefore more precious metals.
Silver is not the only metal playing a role. Gold remains the standard in electronics for corrosion-resistant contacts, bonding wire and other components that must function flawlessly for years and decades – especially in high-load systems such as AI servers.
As a result, technology demand for gold has risen noticeably in recent years. Some of this is due to classic consumer electronics. A smartphone typically contains only a few milligrams of gold (in the range of around 7–34 mg), but with around 1.4 billion devices per year, this sector alone already adds up to double-digit tonnage of gold consumption.
In addition, there are PCs, servers, network components and industrial electronics. The crucial point is that this demand is growing in parallel with solar, e-mobility, grid modernization and AI – the burden on the supply side for silver and gold is therefore cumulative.
For many industrial users, the following also applies: without silver or gold, no production takes place. If silver-containing solders or gold-plated contacts are missing, hardware can often not be manufactured in accordance with specifications or on time. The alternatives – redesigning products, expensive conversions or delayed market launches – are only of limited appeal in a global, AI-driven competition.
Precious metals as strategic bottleneck factors
At the same time, silver and gold are also being withdrawn from the industrial cycle because investors and – in the case of gold – central banks are building up physical stocks. Investment demand and industrial use thus access the same limited supply. This creates a double shortage for silver: as a production factor for key technologies and as a store of value in the financial system.
However, the supply side can only follow this development slowly, as new silver or gold projects take years for approval, financing and construction. And in many producing countries, regulatory requirements, approval procedures and capital costs are increasing.
The market is thus moving towards a more sluggish, less elastic supply curve, while demand is taking on exponential characteristics in several fields of application. In this environment, precious metal projects close to production with manageable capital requirements and predictable ore sources are gaining strategic importance – not only from the perspective of investors, but also potentially for customers in the industry who depend on a reliable supply.
The current market phase explains why projects that combine short-term production prospects with additional exploration potential are receiving increasing attention: they can provide additional physical quantities in a time of growing scarcity, while new large-scale projects are often still years away.
At Goldinvest.de, we are observing a company with Silver Tiger Metals (WKN A2P4YL / TSXV A2P4YL), which has just such a project with the El Tigre mine! Silver Tiger recently received approval for the construction of an open-pit mine on the mine site – the first such approval in Mexico since 2019/2020! CEO Glenn Jessome’s company currently has around USD 50 million in cash and has already started construction of the mine!
In the Goldinvest.de interview, Mr. Jessome gives a good overview of the state of affairs and his plans for the future of Silver Tiger and El Tigre:
Silver and gold as critical infrastructure of the AI and energy world
Against the background outlined above, the rise in the silver price well above USD 70 per ounce is less an expression of speculative exuberance than a readjustment of scarcity. The market is beginning to price in the fact that silver – and to some extent gold – can no longer be regarded as interchangeable raw materials, but as critical infrastructure for an electrified, digitized economy.
For AI, electric vehicles, solar energy and advanced electronics, silver and gold are no longer marginal components. They form the basis for conductivity, reliability and efficiency in key applications that are being expanded worldwide.
The deeper the global economy penetrates into an AI-supported, electrically powered future, the more these metals move into the foreground as strategic bottleneck factors. The current silver price thus reflects not only the situation in 2026 – but a long-term shift in the relationship between supply, demand and industrial dependence.
