Global Data Centre Metal Demand Driven by Grid Infrastructure, Wood Mackenzie Says

Wood Mackenzie’s research shows that the base metals required to power the worldwide data‑centre boom extend far beyond servers, cooling units and enclosures. When grid reinforcement, transmission networks and on‑site power systems are included, total system‑level metal consumption is estimated at three to four times the volume implied by the data‑centre assets alone.

Internal aluminium demand peaks at 0.6‑0.9 million tonnes per year, with cooling systems accounting for roughly 55 % and racks and enclosures about 25 %. Copper demand grows alongside high‑density power nodes. Metal demand grows about 8‑10 % annually to the early 2030s, then slows to a 2‑3 % decline as efficiency gains and AI‑driven design optimisation take hold.

The first shift occurs at the facility boundary, where operators add on‑site generation (solar, wind, storage, gas engines, fuel cells, small modular reactors) that does not scale with compute load but doubles the metals needed. The second shift is at the grid level: annual data‑centre‑driven power capacity additions are projected to rise from 15‑20 GW today to a peak of 30‑33 GW in the early 2030s, with Asia‑Pacific supplying more than half of the additions and North America leading early deployment. These expansions require substantial grid reinforcement programmes, dramatically increasing aluminium and copper requirements.