Gold’s vital role in age of AI

The AI boom hasn’t produced a surge in demand for technology-input staple, gold – yet – says the World Gold Council, with record gold prices a factor. But that tide could turn.

WGC senior markets analyst Louise Street says gold is found in high-end chips powering devices such as smart phones, laptops and smart watches, as well as vehicle electronics and a host of other gadgets. Data centres and other data and online interaction installations all use the yellow metal.

“Gold is, quite literally, all around us,” says Street and WGC consultant Trevor Keel in a review of technology-sector gold demand.

“Gold's role in technology may be easy to overlook but it is quietly indispensable.

“As AI continues to grow at pace attention has increasingly turned to the role gold plays in the sector.”

The WGC says 2025 electronics, dentistry and other industrial demand for gold was flat year-on-year at 323 tonnes. Electronics consume about 80% of the gold used in industrial applications, a connection that expanded in the 1960s and 70s when semiconductors entered mainstream consumer and commercial markets. Gold’s unique chemical and physical properties have made the noble metal “ever more critical” in the functionality and reliability of modern microprocessors, memory chips, connectors, sensors and networking infrastructure.

According to Street and Keel, cost pressures and thrifting in the electronics sector have produced gold demand headwinds even as the AI boom and more advanced medical tools start pushing up usage of the metal.

“Beyond the headlines gold continues to earn its place in applications that demand the very best: high-end chips, safety-critical devices and tests that diagnose disease in the world's most remote communities,” they said.

“It may be a small slice of overall demand but where reliability matters, gold is hard to replace.

“The global clamour for AI chips has undoubtedly spurred recent demand for gold.

“Many chips and devices used in AI applications are extremely complex and costly [and] manufacturers seek the best materials to ensure longevity and reliability. This almost always involves gold.

“Another factor worth noting is that easy gold-thrifting happened many years ago, meaning that most coatings and wires are already at – or very close to – their technical minimum thickness.

“We believe high-end and safety critical devices will continue to require gold.

“We view the current demand situation in the electronics sector very much as a tug-of-war, with cost pressures and technical advances on one side and AI demand on the other.

“At the moment, the two sides appear evenly matched.”

Street and Keel say co-packaged optics (CPO) are one emerging area that could support future gold demand.

“With the growing complexity of AI models comes a dramatic increase in data transfer between processors and memory systems,” they say.

“Traditional electronic connections are starting to encounter limitations in delivering the requirements of next-generation AI data centres.

“CPO can better meet these needs if it can enhance bandwidth, reduce data transmission bottlenecks and improve energy efficiency by close integration between optical communication components and the processor itself.

“Gold plays several important roles within these systems. Beyond traditional wires and coatings it is also used in some optical and photonic components, thanks to its durability and excellent electrical performance, as well as in high-frequency electrodes within the chip architecture.

“Although CPO is at an early adoption stage many of the industry's largest semiconductor and networking companies, such as Nvidia, are investing heavily in its development. If the technology achieves widespread deployment across hyperscale AI infrastructure it could represent a small but potentially meaningful new source of demand for gold within the sector.”

The World Gold Council’s chief strategy officer Terry Heymann is speaking at IMARC 2026.

World Gold Council CEO David Tait is speaking at Resourcing Tomorrow 2026.