Artem Volynets on CNBC weighs in on why copper demand could rise 50% in the next 15 years

ACG Metals Chairman & CEO, Artem Volynets recently sat down with CNBC to discuss the copper market outlook, and the message is clear: the world is heading into a structural copper deficit.

The AI boom and copper

The AI revolution brought new data centers, and behind every data center is an enormous amount of copper. As Artem explained, “one gigawatt data center adds 40,000 tons of copper demand — that’s roughly half a billion dollars.” With data centers projected to grow fivefold over the next five years, that translates to a 20% increase in demand from just one sector alone.
And that’s before accounting for everything else. As Artem noted, “EVs, robotics, defense, in today’s world all consume an additional amount of copper.”

Supply cannot keep up

As Artem put it plainly, “if things continue as they are, there will be 50% additional demand in the next 15 years compared to where we are today, and there is no way in the world the global copper industry can produce as much copper.”

In the United States, the infrastructure gap is decades in the making. As Artem pointed out, “in the 70s there were 27 smelters in the US, now it’s only two.” No major new mine has come online in over 15 years. His conclusion is direct: “I do not see any other outcome than increasing copper prices going forward.”

Tariffs are noise, the demand is the signal

With trade tariffs creating short-term price divergence between U.S. and London Metal Exchange prices, it’s easy to get distracted by headlines. But as Artem made clear, tariffs may add a 5–10% price difference, while the underlying demand story “could add thousands of dollars price difference.” For companies making long-term investment decisions, the fundamentals matter far more than short-term volatility.

The geopolitical dimension

Unlike many critical minerals, no single country controls copper. As Artem noted, “it’s probably one of the few major industrial commodities where the price is determined by true supply and demand.” That also makes it a strategic priority for Western governments, and ACG Metals is actively engaged with the U.S. government as part of the broader push to secure domestic supply chains.

As Artem cautioned, however, “investment in a copper project adds a 15–20 year horizon that goes well beyond the time of one administration“, meaning the decisions made today will define the copper landscape for decades to come.