LONDON, July 7 — The shift is copper. And it’s happening fast. The same metal that powers the grid, the same metal that runs through every data center cable, is now driving a surge in thefts at AI construction sites across the United States.
The economics are simple: copper prices have climbed steadily, and thieves are following the money. In 2023, copper averaged $3.90 per pound on the London Metal Exchange.
That’s up from $3.50 in 2022 and $2.80 in 2020 — a sharp climb that has made the metal increasingly attractive to scrap dealers and the criminals who supply them. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that domestic copper consumption for electrical wiring jumped by 12% in 2023, fueled largely by data center and renewable energy projects. Watch this space: as AI infrastructure expands, so does the target.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that copper thefts from construction sites cost the U.S. economy $1 billion annually. Data center sites alone account for 15% of those losses.
That’s a significant chunk, and it’s concentrated in the regions where AI buildout is most intense. In Northern Virginia, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office reported that copper thefts from construction sites rose 15% in 2023 compared to the previous year. That’s not a blip — that’s a trend.
The scrap math
What’s changing is the incentive structure. The scrap value of stolen copper typically runs 60-70% of market price. At $3.90 per pound, that means a thief can get roughly $2.34 to $2.73 per pound with almost no overhead.
No mining costs, no smelting, no logistics — just a truck and a pair of bolt cutters. The trend underneath is that rising copper prices make theft more profitable, and rising data center construction makes more copper available to steal.
The U.S. Department of Energy has noted that copper demand for data centers could double by 2030. If that projection holds, the theft risks will only increase. More copper on site means more targets.
More AI data centers means more construction sites vulnerable to overnight raids. The industry is racing to build out the computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence, and copper is the quiet bottleneck nobody’s talking about — except the thieves.
What to watch next
The question isn’t whether copper thefts will continue. The question is whether the industry can adapt fast enough. Security measures at data center construction sites are still playing catch-up.
Surveillance, lighting, fencing, and scrap dealer regulations all lag behind the price signals that drive the black market. The shift is already underway: copper prices are up, thefts are up, and AI buildout is accelerating.
Watch this space for how the industry responds — and whether the copper keeps flowing to the right places.
