A single Microsoft data centre in Chicago used 2,177 tonnes of copper, about 27 tonnes for every megawatt of capacity. Multiply that across the 15 to 20 gigawatts of new data centre capacity being commissioned this year and analysts put the copper embodied in construction at roughly 300,000 to 700,000 tonnes, with grid reinforcement adding several hundred thousand tonnes more. That demand is arriving with almost no offsetting scrap supply, because none of it will be recycled for decades.
Scrap Price Today market analysis, written from exchange settlement data, mill and refiner pricing practice and published policy documents. Figures are examples; today’s numbers are on the live scrap price board.
This is the structural reason copper sits at a record on our board while ferrous and lead go nowhere. It is worth understanding properly, because it is the one demand story that directly favours anyone holding copper.
How much copper a data centre actually contains
| Conventional data centre | AI facility | Grid connection | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Measurement | Tonnes of copper per MW of capacity | Tonnes per MW | Tonnes per MW, including transmission |
| Typical intensity | 10 to 15 tonnes | 27 to 47 tonnes | 100 to 150 tonnes when new network build is required |
| Per facility | 5,000 to 15,000 tonnes | Up to 50,000 tonnes at hyperscale | Shared across the network rather than the site |
| Where it sits | Power distribution, busbars, cabling | Same, plus denser power and liquid cooling | Substations, transformers, redundant feeds, transmission |
| Documented example | A Chicago facility used 2,177 tonnes, about 27 tonnes per MW |
The facility numbers come from the Copper Development Association and from analyst estimates referenced by S&P Global; the Chicago figure is from a published study of a single site.
Note which column is largest. Marex’s head of market analytics has made the point that the data centres themselves are not the main driver; the power generation and transmission network needed to run them is where the biggest volumes sit.
The scale, in this year’s numbers
The world’s operational data centre base is on the order of 100 gigawatts and growing in the mid-teens to 20 percent range, implying 15 to 20 gigawatts commissioned this year.
Applying a facility intensity of 27 to 40 tonnes per megawatt gives roughly 300,000 to 700,000 tonnes of copper embodied in this year’s construction, with a central estimate near half a million tonnes. Grid reinforcement to power those sites adds a further 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes.
Kpler’s analysts put it starkly: AI data centre construction alone is absorbing roughly the entire year’s growth in global copper demand. Longer term, BloombergNEF-referenced projections model about 400,000 tonnes a year of data centre copper demand over the coming decade, peaking near 572,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile the International Energy Agency expects data centre electricity demand to more than double by the end of the decade, from around 1.5 percent of world supply today.
Why this matters to a scrap seller specifically
Here is the part general coverage misses.
Copper going into a data centre or a substation is leaving the recyclable pool for a generation. Building cable, busbar and transformer windings have service lives measured in decades, so this is demand with no matching increase in scrap supply for fifteen to thirty years.
At the same time, recycled copper already meets roughly a third of world demand, and the International Copper Study Group’s most recent balance revision moved back toward surplus partly because secondary production from scrap is growing faster than primary. Scrap is the swing supply in this market.
That combination, structural demand plus scrap as the flexible source, is why clean copper grades have held such a high share of the exchange price. Our board has number 1 copper at 86.9 percent of COMEX today, and the copper analysis tracks how that share has behaved.
What it does not mean
It is not a reason to hold material indefinitely. Copper has had a 34.9 percent drawdown inside this five-year series, compressed into four months, and structural demand did not prevent it.
It is also not a uniform story across the yard. None of this touches ferrous, lead or zinc, which is why our board shows copper up 52.6 percent over twelve months while ferrous is up 11.7 percent and lead is down. The five-year history sets that divergence out grade by grade.
And the demand is lumpy. Data centre announcements convert into orders over years, projects get cancelled, and efficiency improvements reduce intensity over time. A demand curve drawn from press releases is not a price forecast.
Key numbers
- A Chicago data centre used 2,177 tonnes of copper, about 27 tonnes per megawatt (published facility study, cited by BHP).
- Conventional facilities hold 5,000 to 15,000 tonnes of copper; hyperscale AI sites up to 50,000 tonnes (Copper Development Association figures).
- AI facility intensity is estimated at 30 to 47 tonnes per megawatt, rising to 100 to 150 tonnes per megawatt including grid infrastructure (S&P Global and sector research).
- Roughly 300,000 to 700,000 tonnes of copper is embodied in this year’s data centre construction, with grid reinforcement adding 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes (Kpler analysis, July).
- Data centre copper demand is projected to average about 400,000 tonnes a year over the coming decade, peaking near 572,000 tonnes (BloombergNEF-referenced projections).
- Data centres use about 1.5 percent of world electricity today, expected to more than double by the end of the decade (International Energy Agency).
- Recycled copper meets roughly a third of world demand (International Copper Study Group).
What this metal pays around the world
Scrap is a global market priced in US dollars, but what reaches a seller depends on trade position, freight to the nearest consumer and how many buyers compete locally. The table below converts the same grade into each market’s own currency and units at the day’s exchange rate, and shows the factor we apply.
| Market | Local price | USD per lb | Market factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | ₺647.79 / kg | $5.94 | 1.04 |
| Germany | €11.45 / kg | $5.82 | 1.02 |
| United States | $5.71 / lb | $5.71 | 1.00 |
| China | CN¥82.69 / kg | $5.60 | 0.98 |
| Canada | C$7.86 / lb | $5.54 | 0.97 |
| United Kingdom | £9.11 / kg | $5.48 | 0.96 |
| Australia | A$17.29 / kg | $5.42 | 0.95 |
| United Arab Emirates | AED43.92 / kg | $5.42 | 0.95 |
| Saudi Arabia | SAR43.90 / kg | $5.31 | 0.93 |
| India | ₹1,101 / kg | $5.25 | 0.92 |
| Bangladesh | ৳1,364 / kg | $5.02 | 0.88 |
| South Africa | R176.80 / kg | $4.85 | 0.85 |
How we produced this
The intensity and volume figures are attributed in the text to their sources: a published facility study, Copper Development Association data, S&P Global-referenced research, Kpler’s market analysis and BloombergNEF-referenced projections. They are estimates from different methodologies and they do not agree precisely, which is why we give ranges rather than a single number.
The price and share figures are from our own daily series, documented on the editorial policy page. Today’s levels are on the live board and in local currency on the country pages.
One caveat worth stating plainly: demand forecasts of this kind have a poor record. The mechanism, copper leaving the recyclable pool for decades while scrap remains the flexible supply, is more reliable than any of the tonnage numbers attached to it.