executiveResearch noteJune 15, 2026
The Copper Bottleneck Under the AI Boom
We flagged the physical copper bottleneck under the $725B AI buildout while consensus watched the chips. This month Bloomberg made it the call.
In May, while the AI trade was still all about chips, we argued the real bottleneck is physical: a single 1-GW AI data center can need up to 50,000 tons of copper, against a market already in structural deficit. In June, the consensus caught up — Bloomberg flagged that industrial metals (copper especially) may outperform precious metals as the AI supply gap bites. The financial story gets the attention; the physical story decides the outcome, and shows up earlier if you watch the right layer.