AI Is More Than A Technology Story, Metals Are Also Winning

Going up. Metals used to build artificial intelligence date centers are on the rise

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The rush to build artificial intelligence (AI) data centers is more than a technology investment story, it’s also about the metals to build them and the power to drive their servers.

That’s why Olivia Markham, one of the world’s most important resource investors sees a budding mining boom.

BlackRock’s New York headquarters (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

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Portfolio manager, alongside Evy Hambro, of the $10 billion BlackRock World Mining Fund and World Mining Trust, Markham told a mining conference in the Australian city of Perth earlier this week that mining companies were struggling to keep up with demand for their minerals and metals.

“Commodity demand is simply accelerating, and the commodity intensity of gross domestic product growth continues to rise,” she said.

‘The AI story is as much a power and metal story as it is a technology story.”

But Markham believes not enough investors recognize the direct link between AI and the commodities world.

Goldman Sachs Agrees

A similar point was made a few days earlier by investment bank Goldman Sachs in a research report into the demands of Agentic AI.

“Current digital infrastructure is unlikely to sustain Agentic AI in our view,” Goldman Sachs said.

“These autonomous, always-on systems are 60-to-130 times more energy intensive than AI chatbots, necessitating a total rebuild of the physical architecture beyond just data centers.”

Rolls of sheet copper at Revere Copper Products in Rome, New York. Photographer: Lauren Petracca/Bloomberg

Copper and aluminum are the two metals riding highest on the data center building rush with big copper miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto enjoying sharp share price increases.

BHP is up 36% this year, including 13% in the past month. Rio Tinto has risen by 25% this year and 8% in the past month.

Goldman Sachs said in its report titled ‘Investing…

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