Copper's AI Hype: A Closer Look at the Numbers
Copper prices have been on a tear, breaking new all-time highs each month. However, according to James Cooper of Fat Tail Daily, there may be more to this story than just the AI buildout. In his view, copper's growth story ends with a maturing US tech bubble.
Cooper argues that while AI data centres do consume significant amounts of copper, it's not as much as previously thought. He cites figures from S&P Global, which projects that global data centres consumed approximately 1.1 million metric tons of copper in 2025. This is a substantial amount, but it represents only about 4% of the total copper mine supply.
Cooper questions whether AI is truly driving the copper market as much as has been claimed. He suggests that there are other factors at play and will be exploring these further in his next article.