Silver Price Forecast 2026：Why the $70 Is Becoming the New Normal

Silver is stepping out of gold’s shadow as its market dynamics evolve. Surging past US$66/oz by late 2025, silver’s rally is driven less by speculation and more by structural factors: persistent supply deficits, industrial demand, and a new role in AI, EVs, and clean energy. 

Unlike gold, which is largely held as a store of value, silver is increasingly critical in high-performance hardware, where its unmatched conductivity is irreplaceable. Coupled with low above-ground inventories and price-insensitive industrial consumption, silver’s trajectory is decoupling from gold. For 2026, analysts expect $70/oz to act as a new base rather than a ceiling, signalling a paradigm shift in the market.

The fastest-growing source of silver demand is also one of the least discussed: artificial intelligence infrastructure.

As hyperscale data centres expand to support AI models developed by major technology firms, silver consumption inside high-performance hardware has surged. The metal’s unmatched electrical and thermal conductivity makes it essential in advanced servers, accelerators and power systems. It is widely used in printed circuit boards, connectors, busbars and thermal interfaces, particularly in dense, power-hungry AI environments.

Industry estimates suggest AI-focused servers consume two to three times more silver than traditional data centre equipment. With global data-centre power demand expected to roughly double by 2026, this translates into millions of additional ounces absorbed annually into hardware that is rarely recycled.

Crucially, this demand is price-insensitive. For companies building multi-billion-dollar data centres, silver typically represents a fraction of a percent of total costs. Even a sharp rise in the metal’s price has little impact compared with the cost of slower processing, higher energy losses or system instability. As a result, higher prices do little to curb consumption, reinforcing upward pressure in an already tight market.

Silver’s rally is not built on sentiment alone. The global market is entering its fifth consecutive annual supply deficit, a rare and persistent imbalance.

According to industry data, cumulative deficits since 2021 are approaching 820 million ounces, roughly equivalent to an entire year of global mine supply. While the annual shortfall in 2025 is smaller than the peaks seen in 2022 and 2024, it remains significant enough to continue draining above-ground inventories.

The underlying issue is structural. Around 70–80% of silver production comes as a by-product of mining for copper, lead, zinc and gold. This limits the industry’s ability to respond quickly to higher prices. Even if silver prices rise sharply, production cannot scale unless base-metal output also increases. New primary silver mines take a decade or more to develop, making supply unusually inelastic.

This rigidity is already visible in exchange inventories. Registered stocks have fallen to multi-year lows, with tight physical availability reflected in higher lease rates and sporadic delivery stress. In such conditions, even modest increases in investment or industrial demand can trigger outsized price moves.

Another key indicator supporting a higher silver price is the gold-to-silver ratio, a long-used measure of relative value between the two metals.

As of December 2025, with gold trading near US$4,340 and silver around US$66, the ratio sits near 65:1. That is a sharp compression from levels above 100:1 seen earlier in the decade and below the modern average range of 80–90:1.

Historically, during precious-metal bull markets, silver tends to outperform gold, pulling the ratio lower as investors seek higher beta exposure. That pattern has re-emerged in 2025, with silver’s gains far outpacing gold’s.

If gold simply holds around current levels into 2026, a further move in the ratio toward 60:1 would imply a silver price above US$70. More aggressive compression, while not the base case, would push prices materially higher. Past cycles show that silver often overshoots “fair value” during periods of tight supply and strong momentum.

The more interesting question for 2026 is not whether silver can trade above US$70, but whether it can stay there.

From a structural perspective, the answer increasingly looks yes. Industrial demand is sticky, supply is constrained, and above-ground inventories offer little buffer. Once a level becomes the clearing price for physical demand, it tends to attract buyers on weakness rather than sellers on strength.

This has practical implications for traders and investors. Silver is no longer just a hedge or a momentum trade. It is evolving into a core industrial commodity with financial optionality.

That is also why access and execution matter. Many active investors now prefer flexible instruments that allow them to express both directional views and risk management without tying up large amounts of capital.

Used correctly, these tools allow investors to participate in structural trends like silver’s re-rating while managing volatility, rather than being forced into all-or-nothing positioning.

Many active traders now prefer flexible instruments that allow them to express directional views while managing risk and capital efficiency. Platforms such as Mitrade have gained traction by offering zero-commission trading on precious metals, along with leverage controls and demo accounts that allow strategies to be tested before capital is committed.

Used correctly, these tools allow investors to participate in structural trends like silver’s re-rating while maintaining disciplined risk management — an increasingly important consideration in a market where volatility remains elevated.

Silver’s rally is no longer just about inflation hedging or monetary speculation. It reflects a deeper transition in how the metal is used, supplied and priced.

With AI infrastructure expanding, inventories tight, and supply unable to respond quickly, the market is adjusting to a higher equilibrium. In that context, US$70 an ounce looks less like a ceiling and more like a base case for 2026.

For investors, the debate is no longer whether silver has already “run too far”, but whether the market has fully priced in its new role in the global economy. On current evidence, that repricing still appears to be in progress.