Ruthenium, a platinum group metal (PGM) used primarily in electronics, energy storage, and chemicals manufacturing, has almost doubled in price over the past year thanks to increased demand in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, according to media reports.
It has recently been trading at around $800 an ounce, nearly doubling in price within a year and matching its 2021 peak. This price point is close to the all-time high of $870 an ounce achieved 18 years ago, Bloomberg reported with a reference to critical minerals consultancy SFA.
“As AI rolls out, as data storage requirements increase, you need a technology which is still cheap, cost-effective and can store large quantities of data,” said SFA analyst Sandeep Kaler, adding that ruthenium will continue to be the metal of choice for these technologies before cheaper alternatives are implemented.
Meanwhile, the world supply of ruthenium is relatively low compared to other PGMs and was estimated at just 30 tons in 2024. This metal is usually mined as a by-product of platinum extraction. Production is expected to fall further due to a lack of investment after many years of low prices, which may lead to a market deficit in 2026, Kaler added.
Ruthenium allows for greater density of data storage in hard disk drives (HDD) when applied to platters as an extremely thin nano coating. As cloud computing demand grows, HDD sales are projected to rise 16% this year, leading to a growth in ruthenium consumption.
Theodor Lisovoy, Managing Editor, Rough&Polished
