Tech giants come knocking for a piece of Anglo American as copper scarcity bites Wanblad tells FT

AI desk brief

Anglo American says it has had talks with tech companies that want equity stakes or long-term offtake to secure future supply of copper for data centres, underscoring how tight the market has become. Comex copper for December delivery was near $6.52/lb ($14,370/t) after three straight declines, while LME cash copper hit a record $14,822/t on Monday and the most-active Comex contract remains within 6% of its Sept. 9 record settlement of $6.89/lb.

The article also notes stronger-than-expected US inflation data has revived expectations of a Fed hike this month, a modestly hawkish macro backdrop that is negative for precious metals via higher real-rate risk. Anglo’s Teck combination is still waiting on final Chinese approval; the combined group would produce about 1.2 million tonnes a year and control roughly 5% of global copper supply.