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.
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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:
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To expand the electrification of the world.
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To provide the piping used in plumbing for new housing and commercial buildings.
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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.