The surging price of silver is good news for those who have invested in it, but it also has significant effects on the enterprise.
Silver isn't just a shiny precious metal,it's a critical material in enterprise technology infrastructure. It forms electrical connections in semiconductors and circuit boards, enables cooling systems in data centers and powers networking equipment. The metal's conductivity makes it irreplaceable in high-performance chips, servers and storage systems.
The price of silver has been on a dramatic upswing. In January of 2024, the price of silver hovered around $22.07 per ounce. 2025 was a year of significant price gains with the price of silver hovering around $28.92 in January. By December 28, 2025 the price had risen to a year high of $93.90. By January 23, 2026 the price of silver surged to over $100 as supply and geopolitical concerns continue to have an impact.
The silver price surge has cascading impacts on technology costs as the increase ripples through the silver supply chain that technology relies on.
"Tech is not the biggest slice by volume but it is the most stubborn because silver's conductivity and reliability are hard to replace when performance really matters," said Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at The Futurum Group.
What's driving the silver price surge?
There's no singular factor that's driving the increase of the price of silver, rather there are multiple forces at play including:
Industrial demand. Silver's role in semiconductors, circuit boards, solar panels, batteries and data center components is reshaping the market.
"Silver has quietly become the copper of the digital era," saidManishJain, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group. "Every solar panel, AI server and battery needs it, so demand is compounding faster than supply can realistically respond."
Supply constraints. In 2024, global mine production reached 819.7 million ounces while demand hit 1.16 billion ounces, creating a deficit of 148.9 million ounces, according to the Silver Institute's World Silver Survey 2025. This represented the fifth consecutive year of structural deficits. Major primary mines are also approaching end-of-life with few replacement projects in development.
"On what’s driving silver prices right now, demand from solar, electronics, EVs, power infrastructure and advanced computing hardware is now large enough that it’s approaching total global mined supply and much of that silver is permanently consumed rather than recycled," said Boloor.
Green energy transition. Solar and EV adoption are increasing silver use faster than mining supply can match. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimatesthat annual solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity additions need to more than quadruple to 630 gigawatts by 2030 to meet net-zero emissions goals. In the IEA's Roadmap to Net Zero Emissions by 2050, demand for silver for solar PV manufacturing in 2030 could exceed 30% of total global silver production, up from about 10% today.
"Tech isn't the largest silver consumer alone, but combined with solar and EVs, it's like three freight trains hitting the same track of industrial demand with no release valve," said Jain.
Financial market pressures. Geopolitical factors are adding volatility, in particular,China's fiscal strategy, according toTed Krantz, CEO at Interos.
"China's strategy to use both gold and silver as debasement leverage against the USD, and in particular its reserve strategy to counter U.S. fiscal policy, have potentially a material negative impact on Fiat currencies across the globe," said Krantz.
[Commodity volatility] almost always becomes a direct procurement and/or direct supply chain cost problem.
Ted KrantzCEO, Interos.
China's export restrictions starting in 2026, combined with its $1.2 trillion trade surplus, creates "exponential pressure on both the physical supply of silver as well as its market price,"he said.
Why should CIOs care?
On the surface it might seem that the price of silver is just a concern of the precious metals and equity markets. The reality is that silver price volatility translates into direct financial impacts across technology spending with direct impact on CIOs and their budgets.
Budget unpredictability.Commodity price increases affect purchasing power as CIOs plan technology budgets are being impacted as commodity prices impact purchasing power.
"Managing volatility has been a tactical procurement issue up until recently, it is increasingly becoming a hot topic for firms that have come to realize that commodity exposure has a direct impact on purchasing power," Peter Reagan, financial market strategist at Birch Gold Group explained.
Silver functions as a "technology cost accelerator" with effects on hardware acquisition that occur "quietly and steadily," undermining ROI assumptions for transformation projects, Reagan said.
Increased vendor pricing pressure. Rising hardware manufacturing costs get passed downstream by manufacturers, appearing as modest percentage adjustments that compound over time.For multi-year technology budgets, "this could be a cost erosion challenge that needs active measures if costs are to be controlled,"said Reagan.
Greater exposure to supply chain disruptions. Beyond price, physical supply constraints create supply chain challengesand delivery timelines extend when supplies tighten. "[Commodity volatility] almost always becomes a direct procurement and/or direct supply chain cost problem," said Krantz.
Threat to digital transformation timelines. Rising costs and uncertain availability force organizations to reassess project scopes, defer upgrades and accept technical debt. What looked viable at planning becomes financially challenged at procurement.
How the silver price surge affects enterprise tech costs
The increasing price of silver has a direct impact on enterprise technology costs.
Semiconductors and high-performance chips. The earliest cost pressure is showing up in semiconductors, high-speed interconnects and advanced circuit boards, where silver's conductivity simply can't easily be substituted, according to Dion Hinchcliffe, vicepresidentof CIO practice at The Futurum Group.
High-performance chips are at particular risk, with rising semiconductor materials costs making AI hardware disproportionately sensitive to price swings, said Jain.
Data center infrastructure. Beyond servers, infrastructure relies on silver in electrical systems, cooling and power distribution. Switches, routers, endpoint devices and sensors also face material cost increases.
"As AI workloads increase power density then those costs quietly roll into server pricing, networking upgrades and data center buildouts," said Boloor. "It's less about a sudden spike and more about costs drifting higher year after year."
Cloud services. The underlying hardware infrastructure costs increases will likely cascade into increased cloud service costs over time.
"Scrutinize cloud contracts now," Jain said. "Data center and GPU costs will flow straight into IaaS and PaaS pricing unless inflation clauses in your contracts are capped."
Extended hardware lifecycles. Higher server costs force organizations to extend hardware lifecycles. That in turn can lead to performance degradation and higher maintenance costs.
How canCIOskeep tech costs down despite high silverprices?
Given the direct impact associated with rising silver prices, it makes sense for proactive CIOs to deploy IT cost optimization strategies to help reduce the risk. Potentialactions span procurement, architecture and financial planning.
Procurement and vendor management
Negotiate longer-term pricing agreements. Lock in costs before further increases. Without safeguards in contracts, silver-driven inflation quietly compounds across multi-year spend commitments, according to Jain.
Diversify suppliers. Maintain leverage and reduce allocation risk.
Push for transparency in vendor cost structures. Reagan recommends "pricing structures that factor in changes in precious metal costs."
Architecture and strategy
Extend hardware lifecycles.Optimize where feasible to defer replacement.
Increase virtualization and consolidation. Reduce physical hardware needs.
Evaluate cloud versus on-premises tradeoffs. Cloud providers might be able to defer some of the commodity price increases better than individual organizations producing hardware for on-premises deployments.
Financial and Risk Planning
Build commodity-driven cost volatility into IT budgeting models. Commodity price volatility is the new normal and should be part of modelling IT budgets moving forward.
Lock in vendor agreements where possible. Where possible lock-in vendor agreements to manage exposure.
Treat material shortages as enterprise risk management issues. CIOs should shift from trying to forecast market price changes to managing risk in a situation where market volatility is endemic rather than exceptional, Reagan said.
Sustainability and Innovation
Support vendors investing in material efficiency. Prioritize recycling programs and reduced-silver technologies.
Track emerging alternatives. Monitor reduced-silver technologies, though substitution remains challenging.
Why this matters now
CIOs have not thought about precious metals' priceincreases -- silver in particular -- in the past.The modern reality is that silver and other precious metals are in fact a concern. CIOs who understand that are building procurement flexibility, incorporating commodity volatility into planning and treating materials exposure as active risk.
"Silver and other precious metals will contribute 1 to 3% to annual technology price increases, and CIOs who haven't provisioned for it will see silent budget erosion," Jain said.
CIOs don't need to become commodities experts, but they do need to recognize when market forces like silver pricing shape technology costs. It's also likely that the current pricing volatility isn't just an aberration or a temporary condition.
"The mistake is assuming this volatility will quickly reverse," said Boloor."But in a world driven by AI and always-on compute, the silver scarcity is actually becoming a lot more structured than anticipated."
Commodity price volatility and technology costs are now permanently linked, with volatility being the new normal and modelling IT budgets moving forward, he said.
"Infrastructure budgets should assume higher input costs stick around," Boloorsaid.
Sean Michael Kerner is an IT consultant, technology enthusiast and tinkerer. He has pulled Token Ring, configured NetWare and been known to compile his own Linux kernel. He consults with industry and media organizations on technology issues.
