Palladium in electronic waste

17 components in this guide contain palladium. Spot price as of 4 Aug 2026: $1,284 per troy ounce ($41.3 per gram).

Richest sources by weight

Component	Palladium per lb	Value per lb	Tier
MLCC — palladium-bearing (PME, pre-2000)	4 g	$165	S
MLCC — modern nickel (BME, post-2005)	0.45 g	$18.6	C
Thick-film resistor networks (SIP/DIP)	0.4 g	$16.5	C
Ceramic disc capacitors	0.15 g	$6.19	C
Cell phone boards	0.05 g	$2.06	A
Plastic ICs — pre-2010 (gold bond wire)	0.05 g	$2.06	B
Telecom / military boards	0.04 g	$1.65	A
Instrument clusters & head units	0.04 g	$1.65	C
Laptop motherboards	0.035 g	$1.44	B
Server motherboards	0.035 g	$1.44	B
Gold-fingered RAM	0.03 g	$1.24	A
Desktop motherboards	0.02 g	$0.83	C

These are yields per pound of that material, not per pound of whatever it came out of. That distinction is the single most common source of inflated figures online.

Everything containing palladium

MLCC — palladium-bearing (PME, pre-2000) Capacitors · $100–170/lb Pd 2.3–9 g/lbAg 4.5–23 g/lbBase Ni S Precious-Metal Sputtering Targets Other · $32000–50000/lb Au ~454 g/lb — the target is solid metalPt 138 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in discPd 77 g in a 2 in × 0.125 in disc S Thick-Film Hybrid Microcircuits ICs & chips · $15–90/lb Au 1.5–4 g/lb packaged; 5–10 g/lb stripped substratesAg 0–15 g/lb on Ag/Pd conductor variantsPd present in Ag/Pd pastes S Cell phone boards Boards · $25–40/lb Au 0.09–0.50 g/lbAg 0.23–1.26 g/lbPd 0.025–0.07 g/lbCu 12–56% A Gold-fingered RAM Connectors & pins · $55–76/lb Au 0.3–0.6 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbPd 0.01–0.05 g/lb A IC Test, Burn-In & ZIF Sockets Contacts & relays · $15–60/lb Au 0.5–2 g/lb complete; 3–8 g/lb de-populated contactsCu ~60 g/lbPd Pd-Ni with gold flash on high-cycle sockets A Telecom / military boards Boards · $11–35/lb Au 0.3–4 g/lbAg 1–8 g/lbPd 0.02–0.3 g/lbCu 15–25% A Laptop motherboards Boards · $10–18/lb Au 0.20–0.50 g/lbAg 1–3 g/lbPd 0.02–0.08 g/lbCu 15–25% B Plastic ICs — pre-2010 (gold bond wire) ICs & chips · $25–45/lb Au 0.5–0.7 g/lbAg 0.2–1 g/lbPd trace–0.1 g/lb B Server motherboards Boards · $9–16/lb Au 0.05–0.3 g/lbAg 1–3 g/lbPd 0.02–0.10 g/lbCu 15–25% B Ceramic disc capacitors Capacitors · $20–70/lb Ag 4–10 g/lbPd 0.05–0.3 g/lb C Desktop motherboards Boards · $5–12/lb Au 0.02–0.15 g/lbAg 0.6–2 g/lbPd 0.01–0.05 g/lbCu 15–20% C ECU / engine control module Automotive · $3–8/lb Au 0.11 g/lb of bare boardAg 0.45 g/lbPd 0.05 g/lbCu ~20% of board mass C Instrument clusters & head units Automotive · $3–12/lb Au 0.008–0.100 g per unitAg 0.2–0.6 g in a premium head unitPd 0.02–0.06 g in a premium head unitCu 20–500 g C MLCC — modern nickel (BME, post-2005) Capacitors · $20–55/lb Pd 0.2–0.7 g/lbAg 1.4–2.7 g/lbBase Ni 5–20% C Thick-film resistor networks (SIP/DIP) ICs & chips · $15–50/lb Ag 2–5 g/lbPd 0.2–0.7 g/lb C Trimmer Potentiometers (Cermet) Contacts & relays · $5–15/lb Au <0.15 g/lbBase Ru ~0.05–0.20 mg per unitPd <0.5 mg per unit D