Speaking at Bloomberg's 2026 Base Metals event in London, Henry Van, Trafigura's head of industrial metals analysis, said hyperscaler spending plans for cloud and AI data centers imply copper use could reach 2.5 million to 3 million metric tons in 2028. Trafigura estimates the segment is running at about 1 million tons this year.
That top-end figure is not his base case. Van said market signals suggest skepticism that every announced project will be built, implying roughly 1.6 million tons of data-center copper demand in 2028. Even so, that would be up 60% from this year. Builders of these facilities are not price sensitive, he added: "They do not care about the price of copper." High prices, meanwhile, should help bring an extra 2 million tons of supply next year, according to Van.
This year, copper has climbed to new records, with a rush of shipments to the US before tariffs draining supply from other markets. Electrification trends remain part of the bullish backdrop for the metal.
Trafigura estimates the data-center buildout has become a key prop for copper demand.
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For investors in miners, smelters, or copper-linked funds, the gap between an implied 1.6 million tons and a potential 3 million tons in 2028 is the spread between solid support and a stronger tailwind. The price-insensitive nature of data-center builders adds resilience to that demand story, even as new supply comes online.
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