AI Predicted to Drive 1 Million Tonnes Increase in Copper Demand by 2030, Says Trafigura Chief Economist
During the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in Switzerland, Saad Rahim said the AI boom could exacerbate copper’s supply-demand imbalance, pushing up prices.
AI Predicted to Drive 1 Million Tonnes Increase in Copper Demand: Trafigura’s chief economist believes artificial intelligence will increase copper demand by one million tonnes per year by 2030.
During the Financial Times Commodities Global Summit in Switzerland, Saad Rahim said the AI boom could exacerbate copper’s supply-demand imbalance, pushing up prices.
AI Predicted to Drive 1 Million Tonnes Increase in Copper Demand by 2030, Says Trafigura Chief Economist
The demand from data centers and AI has suddenly exploded, said Rahim.
The one million tonnes’ deficit gap is “on top of what we already have as a 4-5 million tonne deficit gap by 2030 anyway,” Rahim said. “That’s not something that anyone has taken into account in these supply-demand balances.”
He didn’t say what copper demand will be in 2030.
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Copper’s superior conductivity makes it essential for maximizing electricity transmission and distribution efficiency in the green energy transition.
Before AI, copper was used in data centers for power cables, busbars, electrical connectors, heat exchangers, cooling sinks, and power distribution strips.
Between 20 and 40 tonnes of copper are needed for 1MW of datacenter power.
A $500 million data center in Chicago took 2,177 tonnes of copper.
North American data center infrastructure is expected to grow from $33 billion in 2020 to $70 billion in 2030 and $185 billion in 2040.
The copper consumption for data centers will be 197,000 tonnes by 2020, 238,000 tonnes by 2030, and 293,000 tonnes by 2040.
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