Data centres could nearly triple their electricity consumption by 2035. But that doesn’t mean their silver demand will triple.
The International Energy Agency projected global data-centre electricity consumption rising from approximately 415 TWh in 2024 to 945 TWh by 2030 and around 1,200 TWh by 2035.
Its April 2026 update maintained a similar outlook, estimating roughly 950 TWh by 2030.
These figures point to an enormous expansion of computing capacity. They also raise a question for silver investors: where will all that electricity come from?
The answer could influence how much silver this expansion ultimately requires.
Consider two possibilities.
New solar installations create demand for photovoltaic equipment, where silver is used in electrical contacts. Expanding electricity networks can also increase orders for switches, connectors and other components containing silver.
But not every data centre will rely on new solar capacity.
The IEA’s 2026 analysis estimates that 15–27 GW of on-site natural gas generation could supply data centres by 2030, primarily in the United States. Developers are considering this option partly because grid connections are taking too long.
Both approaches require major infrastructure investments, but their implications for silver demand are different.
Silver is already used in selected data-centre electronics, power-management equipment and electrical contacts. Our Industrial Uses of Silver Explorer examines these applications.
However, there is no reliable universal figure showing how many ounces of silver are required for each megawatt of data-centre capacity.
That makes electricity consumption an imperfect indicator of future physical demand.
A more useful approach is to examine which power-generation technologies are actually being installed, how quickly grid projects progress and what equipment manufacturers are ordering.
Our view: AI infrastructure represents a potential source of additional industrial silver demand. But the scale of that opportunity will depend on what gets built, not simply how much electricity AI consumes.
The next meaningful signal may come from construction and equipment orders rather than another impressive electricity forecast.
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