Founded and organised by the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC), Shanghai Platinum Week this year attracted a record 713 in-person attendees, up 30% on 2025.

During the agenda-packed week, it was reported that China had earmarked close to $300-billion for AI infrastructure expansion and PGM-based hydrogen production was being increased in China at a faster pace than anywhere else on the planet.

“The prospect of significant growth from AI-related platinum demand is an overlay that the market is only just beginning to appreciate and China’s hydrogen scale-up is supported by ambitious deployment targets for PGM-based hydrogen production and PGM-based fuel cell electric vehicle assembly. On current fundamentals, the value proposition for platinum remains compelling,” WPIC CEO Trevor Raymond stated in a media release to Mining Weekly.

AI-related applications that are poised to benefit from PGMs include silicone production, hard disk drives, thin-film coatings on semiconductors and sensors, electronic grade glass fabrics for printed circuit boards, crucibles needed to grow industrial crystals for optical interconnects, and hydrogen fuel cells for data centre back-up power.

The prospect of significant growth from AI-related platinum demand is described by Raymond as “an overlay that the market is only just beginning to appreciate. Crucially, it has not yet been fully factored into platinum’s supply/demand outlook. Understanding this emerging demand and the additional value it could bring is important for both strategic, long-term investors and also short-term market participants”.

The focus on growing AI and new energy technologies also underscores why, in China, the strategic and economic importance of PGMs is fundamental to the delivery of key aspects of the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan.

Shanghai Platinum Week 2026 has served to highlight the trends underpinning China’s PGM demand requirements, as well as the ways in which supply from PGM mining can continue to meet these needs, either by continuing to maximise value from established resources, or by developing new orebodies.

“On current fundamentals, the value proposition for platinum remains compelling. The platinum market is forecast to record its fourth consecutive deficit in 2026, leading to further depletion of above ground stocks, with just under three months’ worth of cover to meet global demand now expected by the end of 2026,” Raymond stated in the WPIC release, which coincided with these announcements:

• Global business-to-business market research firm MarketsandMarkets reporting its expectation that the hydrogen market will reach the $312-billion level by 2030 and IDTechEx seeing a global green hydrogen market of $166-billion by 2037.
• Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association of the US drawing attention during its webinar on July 15 to the various pathways that hydrogen and fuel cells are taking into maritime applications and the maritime industry’s use of fuel cells and hydrogen as a source of propulsion amid increasing pressure to comply with international climate regulations.
• Plug Power of the US being awarded the front-end engineering design contract for the supply of a 275 MW PGM-based proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyser system for Hy2gen Canada’s Courant project in Baie-Comeau in Québec.
• Nel PEM Electrolyser company of Norway reporting 31%-higher first-quarter revenue driven mainly by small-scale hydrogen electrolysers and a 96%-higher second-quarter PEM order intake.
• Air Products Europe’s new liquid hydrogen liquefier in the Port of Rotterdam being more than 65% complete.
• Germany’s green hydrogen pipeline network now spanning France, Belgium, Holland and Austria.
• GeoPura and Forth Ports agreeing to produce on-site green hydrogen at the Port of Tilbury in London.
• Bosch introducing a hydrogen fuel cell system for buses between 12 m and 18 m in length.
  a maritime hydrogen conversion programme being undertaken in Norway to replace the diesel engines of 6 000 fishing vessels with hydrogen fuel cell systems.
• Bharat Petroleum and NeuEN Green Energy jointly supplying 10 000 t of green hydrogen a year to the Numaligarh Refinery in India.
  green hydrogen pioneer Lhyfe signing a commercial, industrial and financial partnership with industrial, medical, electronic and specialty gases company Messer…and the list could go on.

RESPONSE TO MARKET DEMAND

Set alongside the dynamic of continued undersupply in the platinum market is the ability of PGM miners to respond to market demands.

Typically, platinum supply is highly price-inelastic in the short to medium term.

A significant price increase generally cannot stimulate immediate additional production. This structural rigidity is primarily owing to deep-level underground mining operations, multi-year capacity growth lead times, and the concentrated nature of global reserves.

However, discussing platinum supply trends and challenges during Shanghai Platinum Week, Impala COO Patrick Morutlwa was able to offer reassurance about the industry’s ability to meet future demand requirements.

“PGM price cycles can have long ‘winters’ and short ‘summers’, but we believe our strong balance sheet and wide suite of quality brownfield projects ensure the sustainability of our refined output to support future demand requirements,” Morutlwa reported.

Activities of exploration and development projects outside of Southern Africa that will in time add incremental ounces to platinum supply were reported by Bravo Mining VP technical services Heinrich Müller, who described the company’s orebody in Brazil as one capable of adding new supply to help to meet the needs of the medium- to long-term demand growth that looks likely in China.

Guangzhou Futures Exchange becoming a new source of liquidity and price discovery for platinum and palladium was another key Platinum Week takeaway, along with mining majors Impala, Northam, Valterra, and Sibanye-Stillwater emphasising the importance of focusing on assets and maintaining strong balance sheets.

Tharisa, Bravo and Chalice highlighted the prospect of incremental supply from outside of South Africa and market analysts drew attention to the extent to which interest rates are a defining factor for precious metals pricing as well as trends that will continue to influence PGM markets such as geopolitical risk, strategic stockpiling, regional dislocation, and regional pricing.

PLATINUM INVESTMENT

Meanwhile, China has grown into the world’s largest single market for new platinum bar and coin investment, ascending from below a single tonne – 31 000 oz – in 2019 to nearly 13 t – 400 000 oz-plus – in 2025.

New issuance of platinum investment products continues, with WPIC and Beijing’s Caibai signing a strategic agreement involving the introduction of Caibai’s first-ever platinum investment bar series in a store with extensive jewellery collections and a long-standing offering of gold and silver bars and coins.

“As precious metals markets, including platinum, gold and silver, become increasingly influenced by macroeconomic trends, central bank policy decisions, and evolving geopolitical dynamics, the need for timely, data-driven market intelligence has never been greater,” Raymond pointed out.

“Market participants are seeking deeper insights and greater transparency to navigate complexity, manage risk, and identify opportunities in a rapidly changing global environment.”

Raymond holds a deep personal conviction that transparency and active communication in financial markets are the keys to unlocking true valuation and he views the Shanghai Platinum Week as being a critical catalyst for that process.

“It provides Chinese end-users with vital visibility into global supply chains, while giving producers clear insights into China’s long-term material requirements. This mutual clarity is what secures the PGM industry’s future and we will continue to work with our partners to expand physical platinum ownership.”

Raymond expressed immense gratitude to those in China who have enabled the unprecedented growth in platinum investment demand that has been achieved.

Building on this success, WPIC is nurturing relationships with Chinese banks and fund managers that, Raymond added, would enable platinum accumulation plans and exchange traded funds to become additional choices for domestic investors.