RICHMOND, Va., July 8 — The FBI’s 2024 Crime in the United States report, released in October last year, documents a 25% increase in nonferrous metal thefts nationally, with data centre construction accounting for 12% of those incidents. The numbers are stark: total losses from nonferrous metal thefts reached $1.2 billion in 2024, up from $960 million the previous year. The Bureau’s Uniform Crime Reporting programme recorded 15,000 incidents in 2024, compared to 12,000 in 2023.
The technical reality under the hood is straightforward: rising copper prices and the boom in AI data centre construction are driving the surge. The report notes that data centre construction used 12% of U.S. copper in 2024.
Copper is the target in 70% of nonferrous metal thefts; aluminium accounts for 30%. As ever, the detail that matters is that these are not opportunistic scrap-yard raids — the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s February 2025 bulletin warned that organised crime rings are now specifically targeting data centre sites. The FBI’s Richmond Field Office has been coordinating with Virginia state police on a task force formed in February 2025.
Virginia is a hub for data centre construction, particularly in the Loudoun County corridor, and the task force reflects a recognition that the problem has moved beyond petty theft into industrial-scale larceny. The National Association of Home Builders reports that copper thefts from construction sites overall cost the industry $500 million annually, with data centres now the fastest-growing segment.
The copper connection
Nonferrous metals — copper and aluminium — are prized by thieves because they fetch high prices at scrap yards and are difficult to trace once melted down. Data centres are particularly vulnerable: they require enormous quantities of copper for grounding, power cabling, and cooling systems, and construction sites are often sprawling, lightly secured, and active for months. The FBI’s report does not break out the number of data centre-specific thefts, but the 12% share of incidents attributed to data centre construction suggests thousands of individual thefts at these sites alone.
The 2024 figures represent a sharp acceleration. The 15,000 incidents recorded last year compare to 12,000 in 2023 — a 25% jump that the Bureau attributes directly to the confluence of high copper prices and the AI infrastructure buildout.
The $1.2 billion in total losses is a 25% increase on the previous year’s $960 million, meaning the average loss per incident has also risen, from $80,000 to $80,000 — the maths holds because the number of incidents rose in proportion. The real cost, however, is likely higher: the $500 million figure from the National Association of Home Builders covers only construction-site copper thefts, not the broader nonferrous category, and data centres are now the fastest-growing segment within that.
Organised and targeting infrastructure
The Homeland Security bulletin from February 2025 is the detail that matters for understanding the shift in threat level. It warns that organised crime rings are targeting data centre sites specifically — not just stealing scrap from bins but actively stripping active construction sites of copper cable, bus bars, and grounding wire. This is not random vandalism; it is intelligence-led theft, with rings scouting sites, bypassing security, and moving stolen metal through established fencing networks before the loss is even discovered.
The FBI’s Richmond Field Office task force with Virginia state police is the operational response. Formed in February 2025, it is designed to share intelligence across jurisdictions — a necessity when theft rings operate across state lines and stolen metal can be sold in any scrap yard from Maryland to North Carolina.
The task force’s formation predates the release of the 2024 crime report, suggesting the Bureau was already tracking the trend before the official statistics were compiled. For the data centre industry, the problem is not going away. With AI model training and inference driving demand for new facilities, and copper prices remaining elevated, the incentive for organised theft will persist.
The FBI’s report provides the statistical baseline; the task force in Virginia provides the enforcement response. The question that remains is whether the industry itself will adapt — hardening sites, tagging copper with traceable markers, or shifting to alternative materials — before the losses climb further.
