September 26, 2025
Article from Investing Haven by Sam Ralph
Article Synopsis
Clean-tech growth, especially solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption, is reshaping the silver market. In 2024, PV alone consumed about 19% of global silver demand—hundreds of millions of ounces—because solar cells use high-silver-content paste. Alternatives exist but often reduce efficiency or increase costs.
Industrial use, including electronics and electrification, hit a record 680.5 Moz in 2024, making silver behave more like a strategic industrial input than a purely monetary asset. This shift ties silver prices more closely to industrial production.
At the same time, the market faced a notable supply deficit, and investors added about 95 Moz to silver exchange-traded products in early 2025. Because most silver is mined as a by-product, supply cannot quickly expand, amplifying the impact of clean-tech demand and investor flows on prices.
