---
title: "Ruthenium prices hit record high as AI boom squeezes supply"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/279273326.md"
description: "Ruthenium prices have reached a record high of $1,750 per ounce due to supply constraints and increased demand driven by artificial intelligence applications in electronics and cloud computing. This marks a significant rise from $560 per ounce a year ago. Analysts predict a deficit of 203,000 ounces by 2026, as ruthenium is primarily produced as a by-product of platinum-group metal mining in South Africa, where production has been declining."
datetime: "2026-03-16T06:15:28.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/279273326.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/279273326.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/279273326.md)
---

# Ruthenium prices hit record high as AI boom squeezes supply

By Anushree Mukherjee

March 16 (Reuters) - Ruthenium, a minor metal in the platinum-group metals (PGMs), has surged ‌to an all-time high as supply constraints and ‌growing demand linked to artificial intelligence tighten the market, analysts ​and producers said.

Used in electronics, semiconductors, and chemical processing, ruthenium is seeing rising demand from AI-driven data storage and cloud computing. Expansion in data centre capacity is ‌lifting hard disk ⁠drive production, where the metal is used in magnetic layers.

\* Ruthenium prices were around $1,750 ⁠per ounce on March 13,according to data from LSEG, citing Johnson Matthey's benchmarkprices, up from $560 per ounce ​a year ​earlier. \* "The fact that it's ​establishing itself as a 'preciousproxy ‌for the AI buildout', investors have likely also expandedpositioning," said Nicky Shiels, Head of Research & MetalsStrategy at MKS PAMP. \* Wilma Swarts, director of PGMs at Metals Focus, predicts adeficit of 203,000 ounces in 2026. \* Supply ‌remains structurally constrained because rutheniumis ​produced only as a by-product ​of PGM mining, ​largely in SouthAfrica. \* Platinum group metals output ‌in South Africa fell 3.8%year-on-year ​in January ​2025, Statistics South Africa datashowed. \* PGM production in South Africa has been declining forseveral years due ​to limited ‌investment in new mines over thepast two decades, ​Northam Platinum said.

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; ​Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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