The metals AI data centres need most aren’t inside them

The power grid, not the server room, is where the global data centre boom is driving metals demand, according to Wood Mackenzie.

Grid reinforcement, transmission networks and on-site power systems besides internal equipment increases total metals usage by three to four times compared with the facility alone, the London-based energy consultancy said Tuesday.

“Most assessments of data centre metals demand stop at the server room door,” said Shashank Sriram, senior research analyst for aluminium markets at Wood Mackenzie. “That captures the smallest part of the picture. The infrastructure required to keep a modern data centre running, redundant power systems, on-site generation, transmission reinforcement, has a metals footprint that dwarfs what is happening inside the facility.”

“At the system level, we are looking at three to four times the volume implied within the asset,” Sriram said. “For investors and grid planners, that is a material difference.”

The finding reframes a demand story that has attracted considerable attention from commodity investors. Power infrastructure, not servers, is where the bulk of base metals consumption lies, and that is where it will grow through the next decade, the consultancy forecasts.

On-site power

Internal aluminum demand at data centres is forecast to peak at 600,000 to 900,000 tonnes annually before declining from the late 2030s, even as underlying compute demand keeps rising, WoodMac said.

Both aluminum and copper usage are expected to grow at about 8% to 10% per year into the early 2030s, then fall at 2% to 3% annually as efficiency gains and AI-driven design optimization cut internal consumption.

As grid connections slow and local capacity tightens, operators are building generation into the facilities themselves: solar and wind with storage, gas turbines and emerging small modular reactors. This layer alone effectively doubles the metals demand implied within the asset, the consultancy said, with aluminum expanding across busways and distribution systems and copper scaling across high-load connections and grounding infrastructure.

The grid

The second layer is the grid itself. Annual data centre-driven power capacity additions are projected to rise from about 15 to 20 gigawatts (GW) today to a peak of about 30 to 33 GW in the early 2030s, stabilizing at structurally higher levels thereafter. Asia-Pacific will account for more than half of global additions at peak, while North America leads early deployment. These are not incremental connections; they are network reinforcement programs responding to load profiles that existing infrastructure was not built to handle.

At that scale, metals demand is no longer driven by the data centre. It is driven by the power system sustaining it. Aluminum dominates transmission, scaling across overhead lines and conductors, while copper anchors substations and underground connections. Wood Mackenzie said physics determines which metal goes where, with price influencing only the edges of each application.

The result, the report concludes, is not a contest between aluminum and copper for data centre spending but a co-dependent expansion across the base metals complex that extends far past the server room and well into the decade ahead.