Silver briefly eclipsed Nvidia Corp. to become the world’s second-most valuable asset on Monday, a historic reshuffling that signals a deepening rotation from technology stocks into tangible commodities.
The white metal’s total above-ground valuation climbed to $4.65 trillion in early trading after prices surged past $80 per ounce for the first time. That compared with Nvidia’s market capitalisation of $4.60 trillion, according to Bloomberg data.
However, there was an immediate retreat as investors booked profits. Spot silver rose as much as 6% to a high of $84.01 an ounce before crashing. It was trading down 1% at $78.50 as of 10:30 am in Singapore.
Still, the crossover—silver > Nvidia—marks the first time in the modern digital era that an industrial commodity has overtaken the world’s premier technology company, trailing only gold in global asset rankings.
Silver’s acceleration—the metal is still on track for an annual gain of more than 160%, its best performance since 1979—caps a year-long rally for precious metals. The gains have been driven by elevated central-bank purchases, inflows to exchange-traded funds and three successive rate cuts by US Federal Reserve. Lower borrowing costs are a tailwind for the commodities, which don’t pay interest, and traders are betting on more rate cuts in 2026.
“Make no mistake: we are witnessing a generational bubble playing out in silver,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia, told Bloomberg News. “With new mines taking up to 10 years to develop and capital being drawn into the precious metals bubble like a moth to a flame, it is impossible to say when the air might come out.”
The Physical Squeeze
The driver of the move is twofold: a chronic deficit in physical supply and a resurgence in monetary demand.
Unlike gold, which is primarily held as an investment, roughly 50% of annual silver supply is consumed by industrial applications. The explosive growth of the solar photovoltaic sector and the electrification of the auto industry have drained warehouse inventories in London and New York to multi-decade lows.
Paradoxically, the very AI boom that propelled Nvidia to a $4 trillion valuation has exacerbated the silver squeeze. The white metal’s unparalleled conductivity makes it essential for the high-performance connectors and circuitry found in data centres and AI hardware.
Hard Asset Rotation
Investors have also flocked to the metal as a cheaper alternative to gold, which breached $4,500 an ounce earlier this month. The so-called “poor man’s gold” has acted as a high-beta play on the precious metals complex, outperforming gold by a wide margin in the fourth quarter.
The shift reflects a broader caution among asset managers regarding equity valuations. With the Nasdaq 100 facing headwinds from sticky inflation data, capital has rotated into hard assets that historically offer a hedge against currency debasement.
While volatility is expected to remain high—silver is famously prone to sharp corrections—the $4.65 trillion valuation sets a new floor for the metal’s importance in the global financial system.
