This year, copper prices have been soaring to unprecedented levels time and again. On January 14, copper futures on the London Metal Exchange briefly spiked to $13,407 per ton. Meanwhile, domestic copper futures prices also rocketed up, surpassing 100,000 yuan per ton.

The leader of a processing enterprise pointed out that the explosive growth in demand for AI computing power has driven up the power consumption per chip from a few hundred watts to several thousand watts. This places extremely stringent demands on heat dissipation and electrical conductivity. Consequently, the amount of copper used for wiring and heat sinks in a single cabinet now reaches several hundred kilograms.

Analysis reveals that the rapid surge in copper prices is driven by multiple factors. These include supply-demand imbalances, sentiment-fueled premiums, and speculative trading. On the supply front, South American nations like Peru and Chile hold 40% of the world's copper reserves. However, issues such as energy shortages have resulted in a persistent tightness in copper mine supply. On the demand side, emerging sectors including AI data centers, new energy vehicles, and robotics have witnessed a swift increase in copper demand. These have become pivotal factors underpinning the high copper prices.