By Lee Samaha
Publication Date: 2026-02-17 17:00:00
Key Points
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Marginal increases in demand can exert significant upward pressure on commodity prices, particularly during periods of weak supply growth.
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High prices may be causing demand destruction for silver, so the current sell-off is not unusual.
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The coming data center demand (powered by Nvidia architecture) is probably structural and lasting.
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Commodities like silver can experience large price spikes in response to what often seem like relatively small changes in supply and demand. That’s one key reason the price of silver has soared over the last few years. It’s also why a new source of demand, driven by a new generation of data centers using Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) architecture, could create a second wind of demand for silver. Here’s why.
The demand for silver
Silver’s use in jewelry and silverware is high profile, but actually, industrial demand (most notably in photovoltaic cells in the solar industry) is far more critical. The chart breaks out the estimated source of silver demand in 2025.
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Data source: The Silver Institute.*Does not include photovoltaics
As with any commodity, a surging price will cause some demand destruction, and the Silver Institute is forecasting a 1% decline in demand in 2025. Silver demand is expected to stay…
