Data Center Copper: Meeting AI-Era Demand

Anyone asking how much copper a data center uses today gets a very different answer than they would have received five years ago. A conventional enterprise data center typically contains between 5,000 and 15,000 tons of copper, according to the Copper Development Association. A hyperscale AI facility, the kind being built to house NVIDIA HGX systems and similar high-density GPU clusters, can contain up to 50,000 tons of copper per site, roughly three to ten times the intensity of a traditional data center, packed into facilities that often span multiple buildings on a single campus.

Industry analysts are projecting equally dramatic growth in aggregate demand. S&P Global's January 2026 study, Copper in the Age of AI, forecasts that total global copper demand will rise from 28 million metric tons in 2025 to 42 million metric tons by 2040, a 50% increase.

Within that total, AI and data center copper demand is expected to roughly triple by 2040, with data centers and defense together representing 4 million metric tons of additional copper demand. S&P Global also expects total installed electrical capacity for all data centers to reach roughly 550 gigawatts by 2040, more than five times what it was in 2022. Set against a global market already strained by electrification, grid expansion, and other emerging vectors, those figures describe a structural supply imbalance.

To understand how much copper in a data center actually goes where, it helps to look at the systems that depend on it.

• Power Delivery: Hyperscale facilities pull anywhere from 100 megawatts to over a gigawatt of electricity, with utility connections, transformers, switchgear, and distribution networks all built around copper conductors. The denser the rack, the heavier the busbar.
• Liquid Cooling: As GPU power dissipation climbs past 1,000 watts per chip, air cooling has given way to direct-to-chip liquid cooling. Copper tubing, cold plates, and manifolds carry coolant through racks and back to chiller plants, with material selection driven by thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance.
• Grounding and Bonding: Every server rack, cabinet, and structural element ties back to a copper grounding system that protects equipment and personnel from fault currents and lightning strikes.
• Interconnects and Signal Cabling: While fiber optics handle long-haul data within and between facilities, copper still dominates short-reach connections, server backplanes, and high-current DC distribution inside racks.

Copper busbars are the workhorse of any data center power distribution system. C11000 (electrolytic tough pitch copper) and C10200 (oxygen-free copper) offer the high electrical conductivity required to handle large currents with minimal resistive loss.

Phosphorus-deoxidized copper and 90/10 copper-nickel resist corrosion in water-based cooling loops and tolerate the temperature swings that come with continuous operation.

C17200 beryllium copper combines high strength with good conductivity, making it a solid choice for spring contacts, connector pins, and other components that must hold dimensional stability under repeated insertion cycles.

Oxygen-free electronic copper and 70/30 copper-nickel offer the thermal conductivity needed to move heat efficiently, with C71500 adding strong corrosion resistance for facility-scale cooling systems.

The same ETP copper used for busbars also serves as grounding conductors, where conductivity and ductility allow secure, long-lasting bonds.

While copper is the centerpiece, it is not the only material in play. Aluminum, steel, and various specialty alloys all appear in data center construction. The question of which metals are used in data centers is really about where each metal fits.

Aluminum often substitutes for copper in lower-current applications where weight matters more than conductivity. Steel handles structural framing, racks, and chassis. Specialty alloys appear in fasteners, fittings, and components exposed to specific corrosive or mechanical conditions. 

But for the systems where conductivity, thermal performance, and reliability cannot be compromised, copper and copper alloys remain irreplaceable.

S&P Global projects a global copper supply deficit of 10 million metric tons by 2040, even after accounting for a doubling of recycled scrap. New mines take an average of 17 years from discovery to production worldwide, and in the United States, the timeline stretches to roughly 29 years.

The 2026 USGS Mineral Commodity Summary on copper confirms that U.S. mine output actually decreased by 5% in 2025 to 1.0 million tons, even as demand from electrification and AI infrastructure climbed. Tariff policy adds another variable: the 50% Section 232 tariff on copper imports has reshuffled global pricing and pushed buyers to lock in domestic supply earlier in their project timelines.

For data center developers, the practical takeaway is straightforward. Material decisions made late in the design process now expose projects to longer lead times, higher prices, and limited substitution options. Working with a domestic manufacturer that controls its own casting, extrusion, and machining capacity reduces exposure to the volatility moving through the broader copper market.