We’re not ready for the rising needs and the infrastructure takes years to build, says Anthony Milewski for Fast Company
For most of the past decade, technology companies have had the luxury of treating raw materials as someone else’s problem.
If you were building software, cloud infrastructure, electric vehicles, or clean-energy technologies, the assumption was that the underlying materials would simply be available when needed. Supply chains weren’t perfect, but they were generally reliable. If demand increased, producers would respond. If prices rose, markets would adjust.
Among the commodities that will shape the next decade, copper deserves far more attention than it gets today. It lacks the excitement of artificial intelligence and rarely generates headlines outside the mining industry, yet it sits at the center of nearly every major technological and industrial trend underway.
The reality is straightforward: The world is preparing for a significant increase in copper consumption at the same time that bringing new supply online is becoming more difficult.
For business leaders, particularly those involved in AI infrastructure, electrification, advanced manufacturing, and energy, that should matter.
