Copper Near Six Dollars as AI Infrastructure Demand Hits Supply Wall

The Scarcity Premium

BHP and other major miners have noted a strong correlation between record copper prices and the AI hardware cycle. Hyperscale data centers require extensive cabling and power distribution, pushing refined copper demand into a structural deficit.

Supply Chain Fragility

With LME inventories at multi-year lows, any disruption in South America (Chile/Peru) is magnified. Analysts project that copper must stay above $5.50 to incentivize the high-cost mining projects needed for the energy transition.