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“Why Invest in Silver?” Reason #3: The Industrial Uses of Silver

           Many silver investors think that silver is merely a hedge against inflation or money.  While this has been largely true, since the start of the technology age in the 1970’s, this historical pattern has changed.

 Technology and the Industrial Uses of Silver

With the dawn of the technology revolution, a massive demand for metal that could be used as an electronic converter became a chief concern within industry.  With its unique properties including its strength, malleability and ductility, its electrical and thermal conductivity, its sensitivity to and high reflectance of light and the ability to endure extreme temperature ranges, silver is an element without substitution in the electrical world.

 10,000 Industrial Uses of Silver

Silver as a commodity has over 10,000 industrial uses, the largest of any commodity with the exception of oil.  Silver is used in laptops, TV’s, iPod, medical equipment, batteries, automotive parts, bearings, cell phones, computers, water purification, solar energy, and many more.  Over the last 30 years silver’s industrial uses have skyrocketed.  Fabricated demand for silver in 2011 is over 900 Billion ounces.

With numerous new advances in technology, it is expected that the industrial demand for silver will continue to increase for decades.  The continued demand will continue to increase the price of the metals as both industrial and investment demand seek for equal share of the metal.