These are good times for copper producers.
Demand for their product is decidedly robust, particularly for copper coil or copper plate or the ultra-pure copper broken up literally into atoms to make tiny, high-speed computer chips. Or all the wiring and related equipment used in data centers.
Copper is trading at $6.32 per pound in New York and $13,895 per ton in London, a bit below all-time highs reached in May. The price is up more than 700%, whether in New York or London, since the end of 1999, Macrotrends noted.
Freeport-McMoRan second-quarter results better than expected
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), the biggest U.S.-based copper miner, reported a 28% profit gain in the second quarter on July 23, despite a 7.3% decline in revenue, Barron’s confirmed.
The Phoenix, Ariz., company’s shares were down 2.6% to $63.60 at the time of writing on July 23, but are up 24% so far in 2026.
Related: The ultimate AI proxy trade isn’t a tech stock—It’s something more humble
The company operates the giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia and has mines in Arizona and New Mexico, as well as Peru and Chile in South America. Freeport-McMoRan is the largest global producer of molybdenum (used to make high-strength steel), and the company notes that Grasberg is one of the largest single gold deposits in the world.
Copper is a uniquely ubiquitous mineral, believed to have been present on Earth since the planet’s early formation. And it has proven useful throughout the ages, starting as a decorative metal, becoming used in ancient weapons, and now being prized for its ability to transmit information and power.
Copper: You gotta have it
The thing is that the world needs copper just about everywhere:
-
To expand the electrification of the world.
-
To provide the piping used in plumbing for new housing and commercial buildings.
-
To power all the data centers springing up around the globe. Google-parent Alphabet spent $44.9 billion in the second quarter and raised its full-year spending estimate to $195 billion to $205 billion, according to Business Insider. That’s more than double its 2025 spending.
Data centers are massive consumers of copper, at a rate of about 25 to 47 metric tons per megawatt of power. So, for a data center expected to need 100 megawatts of power, the required copper could approach 2,500 to 5,000 tons, a Standard & Poor’s report revealed.
Alphabet needs copper. So do Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, Amazon, and Nvidia. The list goes on.
Alphabet shares were off more than 7% to $318 on July 23 because of investor unhappiness with the company’s projection of a huge increase in capital spending.
