WPIC – Electrical Demand, Jan 2025

The report by WPIC "Electrical Demand" examines the increasing role of platinum in the electrical sector, highlighting its applications and market trends for 2024 and beyond. In 2024, electrical demand for platinum was approximately 90 koz, accounting for about 1% of total platinum demand. Historically used in hard disk drives (HDDs), platinum's role is expanding into the semiconductor and sensor industries, driven by the rising demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. The AI market is expected to surge from US$40 billion in 2022 to around US$1.3 trillion in the next decade. Electrical demand for platinum is forecasted to grow by 2% in 2025, fueled by HDD market recovery and innovations like heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology. Despite competition from solid-state drives (SSDs), HDDs remain cost-effective for large data storage needs, maintaining their relevance in the market.