BHP Warns of Copper Shortage as AI Technology Drives Demand

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expected to worsen the global copper shortage, according to BHP, the world’s largest mining company, as reported by the *Financial Times*. BHP forecasts that growing demand for data centers and AI-related infrastructure, which require energy-intensive computing, could increase the global need for copper by an additional 3.4 million tons annually by 2050.

BHP projects that global copper demand will rise to 52.5 million tons per year by 2050, compared to 30.4 million tons in 2021. "Data centers today account for less than 1% of copper demand, but this is expected to grow to 6-7% by 2050," said Vandita Pant, BHP’s chief financial officer.

Copper plays a critical role in the infrastructure of data centers, used extensively in cables, cooling systems, and for connecting processors. The anticipated growth of AI and data centers suggests that the demand for copper will continue to increase significantly in the coming decades.