 and generative AI (GenAI) technology, according to BHP (ASX: BHP).){kind=link}
AI tools driving copper demand
Copper is vital in supporting rapid growth in global data centres, enabling us to embrace new artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) technology, according to BHP (ASX: BHP).
AI and GenAI tools are transforming the way we work, create and interact. Interest in these tools has surged from the new DeepSeek from China, Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Dall-E or the incorporation of AI functionality in already widely used applications such as Microsoft’s Word and Adobe’s Photoshop.
AI-powered tools require super-fast data processing and data storage and retrieval capability to handle the resource-intensive training and deployment of the complex machine learning models and algorithms that make them work. Data centres provide this rapid computational muscle.
To support the growth in digitisation and cloud computing, in the past two years, data centre construction has doubled in the United States, according to the International Energy Association (IEA) as major players such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft invest heavily to try and stay ahead of the AI-driven demand.
Other countries such as China, Japan and the European Union have also experienced an increase in data centre construction to boost its AI cloud infrastructure.
Data centres must be ready, available and capable of super-fast processing and data storage and retrieval, 24/7 to support AI capabilities.
To do this, these centres require the latest computer chips housed in server units such as the new Nvidia GB200 NVL72, which was launched in 2024 and includes the Blackwell B200 GPU (graphics processing unit), described as the world’s most powerful chip. This new chip is claimed to have four times the AI processing capability of its Nvidia predecessor and Nvidia itself is estimated to have had a 98% share of the GPU chip market in 2023. The new GB200 unit has over 5000 copper cables totalling over 3.2km in length.
A data centre brings many hundreds of these units together to provide next-level data processing and storage capability.