Hormuz Acid Shortage Is Squeezing Copper Supply While Prices Lull AI Buyers

Copper is trading near late-summer highs around $6.72 per pound on COMEX, but the Strait of Hormuz conflict is pressuring the market in a less visible way tied to artificial-intelligence supply chains. The energy shock is adding inflation anxiety, while the Strait’s closure has stranded hundreds of thousands of metric tons of sulphur needed by copper smelters in Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the U.S. Southwest. That structural squeeze can raise fabrication and construction costs for hardware used in AI data centers, from server circuitry and power systems to liquid cooling. A key gauge is the Yangshan copper premium, which has signaled cautious Chinese physical buying.