Softcat Caught in the Middle of Copper Price Surge and Data-Centre Boom
Softcat, a technology infrastructure supplier to corporate and public sector customers, is caught between rising copper costs and booming data-centre demand. The company's position as a middleman between vendors and users makes it vulnerable to both inflationary pressures in the hardware supply chain and strong demand for AI-powered computing solutions.
Copper prices have hit a fresh record, impacting server racks, cabling, power distribution, and cooling systems that consume the metal in large quantities. This has significant implications for companies like Softcat, which rely on these components to build and refresh computing estates.
On the other hand, data-centre demand is driving growth, with companies like SEGRO featuring their plans for massive facilities. Rolls-Royce's push into energy-efficient small modular reactors also highlights the need for power at scale in large-scale computing environments.