Most people associate silver with money and wealth: jewelry, silverware, bullion and coins. No wonder, this precious metal is with us since the ancient times and has influenced our culture in many many ways. The recent rally (and crash) of the price of silver thus raised many eyebrows, calling the stability of the global economy, and the status of the dollar in it, into question. As usual, though, there is much more to the matter than what meets the investor’s eyes. The story of silver tells us as much about our “renewable” future, as about what comes next in the economy and in politics.
The very first coin in the world—the Lydian lion, minted around 600 BCE—was made from silver. It has instantly revolutionized trade and enabled the standardization, storage, and exchange of value. Today, however, silver is first and foremost an industrial metal, with less than 39% of its supply finding its way to jewelers, vaults and safes. The rest, almost two thirds of all mined and recycled silver, ends up in electronics, solar panels, electric vehicles, missiles, and yes, AI data centers. The reason, as always, lies in the chemical and physical properties of this precious metal: silver exhibits the highest reflectivity, electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal—and thus has no one-to-one substitute.
While manufacturers are reducing silver content per each PV panel or electric car made through efficiency gains, the sheer scale of growth in these sectors is still driving a massive increase in silver demand. Problem is, the world simply cannot “produce” enough of this metal, hence the exponential rise in its price. In 2025 alone, demand outpaced supply by a whopping 118 million ounces—marking the fifth consecutive year when the market was in a physical deficit—resulting in a cumulative shortfall of 820 million ounces. That deficiency equals almost 1 year’s worth of mine output, accumulated in a mere 5 years. Think about that for a minute.
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/silver-a-story-of-converging-supply