In early 2014, U.S. data center construction ran at an annualized rate of roughly $1.6 billion. By July 2025, that number reached about $41.0 billion.
A typical data center uses roughly 27 metric tons of copper per megawatt of capacity for power, cabling, and cooling.
BHP projects that the amount of copper used in data centers globally will increase by around 6x from 2025 to 2050, rising from about 0.5 million tonnes a year to around 3 million tonnes.
