Industrial silver demand in the transparent conductive film touchscreen market

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Logically, industry will be the primary driver for the future price of silver.

Given this, it is worth looking into the development of uses for silver in the last decade

One area is the touchscreen, familiar to most of us now but not really 10 years ago

Even now, touchscreens are not ubiquitous on a desktop and there is a lot of refinement to come

Yet, most of us are familiar with touchscreens, even if just a phone, tablet or clumsy interface at the supermarket, fastfood, gym, etc

This is an evolving market for silver investors, as the previous conductor, indium tin oxide becomes more costly due to supply constraints.

Silver is reportedly taking an increasing share of the touchscreen market, with Japan and China currently major areas
http://www.sbwire.com/press-release...f-261-during-2019-2025-qyresearch-1139059.htm

This takes the form of silver mesh, silver nanowire and silver halides.

The incumbent technology for transparent conductors uses indium tin oxide (ITO).Indium is a byproduct of zinc mining that is sourced mainly from China. There have been supply shortages from time to time. ITO has played a major role in the growth of various electronic devices, particularly electronic displays and solar cells. To create a transparent conductor, ITO is sputter-coated onto a target substrate using a vapor deposition process in a vacuum chamber. The resultant coated substrate (usually glass) is chemically etched and patterned to form a transparent conductor that is used in touchscreens.

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Tablets, laptops, and LCD monitors of the past were heavier and thicker. Today the trend is to create truly portable devices and sleek all-in-one computers that demand thinner, lighter components. This is an area of advantage for film-based silvernanowire sensors.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/te...ween-silver-nanowire-and-ito-for-touchscreens