Platinum metals fundamentally key to China’s Five-Year Plan, WPIC reports

Shanghai Platinum Week 2026 has served to highlight that platinum group metals (PGMs) are fundamentally key to the delivery of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan to 2030. China has earmarked close to $300-billion for AI infrastructure expansion and hydrogen production is also being increased in China faster than anywhere else, World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) CEO Trevor Raymond reported on Thursday, July 16.

Platinum metals fundamentally key to China’s Five-Year Plan, WPIC reports Caibai GM Caigang Ning, WPIC CEO Trevor Raymond, and WPIC Asia Pacific Regional Head Weibin Deng. JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Platinum group metals (PGMs) are fundamentally key to the delivery of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan to 2030, Shanghai Platinum Week 2026 has served to highlight. 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 has earmarked close to $300-billion for AI infrastructure expansion and PGM-based hydrogen production is 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 would 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