I Like Things I Can Drop on My Toe

By Hans Albrecht

Adobe I can't drop on my toe. Where will they be in five years with everything going on in AI? I don't know. Copper? You darn tooting we're gonna need it. Everyone's chasing software and datacenter plays right now.

AI this, AI that.

But here's what nobody's talking about: all that AI runs on physical infrastructure. And that infrastructure needs copper. Lots of it. The numbers are staggering. A single Nvidia GB200 server unit has over 5,000 copper cables totaling more than 3.2 kilometers in length. That's two miles of copper in one server rack. Data centers bring hundreds of these units together. It gets bigger. BloombergNEF projects copper demand from data centers will average 400,000 tonnes annually over the next decade, peaking at 572,000 tonnes in 2028. Microsoft's Chicago data center alone used 2,177 tonnes of copper during construction.

Here's the kicker: global copper supply could face a shortfall of up to six million tonnes by 2035. New mines take seven to 10 years from discovery to production. The AI buildout is happening now. You do the math. This is why I like tangible plays right now. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) is a pure copper play.

Copper's making all-time highs. Data center construction in the US has doubled in the past two years. These aren't speculative moonshots. This is picks-and-shovels investing for the AI gold rush. The software winners might change. Maybe it's Google, maybe it's Microsoft, maybe it's some company we haven't heard of yet.

But whoever wins the AI race, they all need copper. They all need data centers. They all need power infrastructure. I'm not saying don't own tech. I love Google. First to 10 trillion, I'm telling you. But balance it with things that have to exist regardless of which software company wins. The physical infrastructure plays.

When everyone's looking one direction, I like to see what's in the other direction. Right now everyone's chasing AI software names. I'm looking at what those software companies absolutely must buy to operate. And copper's at the top of that list.