Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says a scarce metal will likely witness a steep ascent amid a massive demand-supply imbalance triggered by the data center boom.
In a new post on X, Palihapitiya says the AI-driven infrastructure boom is rapidly increasing demand for copper at a time when supply remains structurally constrained.
“As we predicted in our annual predictions episode to start the year, unless someone shows up with superconductivity or carbon nanotubes, copper is the only game in town, and AI is a huge demand driver for a very under-resourced material.”
Palihapitiya shares a report from The Wall Street Journal that cites a study that found AI will help boost copper demand by 50% from current levels by 2040, as mining output shrinks, ultimately leading to a 25% shortfall and representing systemic risk for global industries.
At the start of the year, Palihapitiya picked copper as his top trade idea for 2026.
“We are still completely underestimating how short we are in terms of the global demand and supply dynamics of a handful of critical elements that we need…
The asset that is set up to go absolutely parabolic is copper. The reason is that it is, at least as it stands today, the most useful, cheap and amenable conductive material that we have.
That material manifests in everything from our data centers to chips to our weapon systems. It is just everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. We are on a path by 2040 where we will be short about 70% of the global supply at current course and speed.”
At time of publishing, copper futures (HG1) are trading at $5.99.
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