Opening of copper mines and rare ores, supplies of helium, installation of factories in the United States… American tech is striving both to increase its resistance to international shocks and to reduce its dependence on China.
A project worth more than two billion dollars: work has just started on the site of the future Mingomba copper mine, in Zambia. Once operational, it will be one of the largest in the world, with a production target of 300,000 tonnes of copper per year. It will be managed by KoBold Metals, a Silicon Valley start-up which notably counts Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman among its investors.
The start-up uses AI to analyze geological data and identify potential deposits of copper, but also other precious minerals such as cobalt, nickel and lithium. It responds to a clear ambition, which justifies the interest shown by Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors and CEOs: securing the supply chains of semiconductors, the fuel for AI algorithms.
Copper, a new gold?
Carried by the huge expenses AI giants in data centers, and, to a lesser extent, by the electrification of the economy, the price of copper has increased by more than 25% in one year and is currently at an all-time high. This metal plays an essential role in the manufacturing of semiconductors, particularly for the interconnection between chips. However, High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips, or high bandwidth memory, specially designed for AI, and therefore in very high demand, are particularly demanding in this area.
“The production of HBM chips begins with the manufacturing of traditional DRAM chips, used in particular in classic computers and computer chips. Vertical tunnels, called through-silicon vias (TSV), are then etched into the chips,” explains Jacob Feldgoise, Senior Data Research Analyst at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. However, these TSVs are filled with copper. The more powerful you want a chip, the more layers there are stacked, the higher the number of TSVs, and therefore the quantity of copper.
“These chips are then stacked on top of each other, so that the TSVs of each chip connect to the one above and below, allowing power and data to flow through the layers. The DRAM stack is then mounted on a control logic chip. Finally, several full HBM stacks are mounted on an interposer, surrounding the GPU compute chip. “This interposer is itself densely wired in copper to achieve very high bandwidth passing. The number of connections per mm² in an HBM package is finally much higher than that of a conventional chip, which mechanically translates into more copper per unit.
In this context, copper is therefore a highly coveted commodity, which Big Tech strives to secure, under penalty of suffering the consequences. Hewlett Packard thus warned at the end of 2025 that tensions in the copper supply chain would weigh on its profitability in 2026. Kobold Metals is only one of the components of the program deployed to secure supplies. For example, AWS signed an agreement with Rio Tinto in early 2026 to purchase copper produced locally from a mine in Arizona.
The impact of the Iranian conflict
Copper, however, is only part of the problem. The war in Iran has exposed another weakness in global semiconductor supply chains: helium. This gas is used in particular in the chip manufacturing process, to evacuate heat. It also plays an essential role in lithography, which allows the complex circuits of a chip to be etched. Thus, in 2023, the Semiconductor Industry Association she warned that if the supply of helium were to be disrupted, “shocks would likely occur in the global semiconductor manufacturing industry.”
However, Qatar produces around a third of the world’s helium production, and part of its factories were shut down following Iranian drone attacks, like that of Ras Laffan, operated by QatarEnergy. In addition to this production deficit, transporting gas out of the Middle East has become increasingly difficult with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In total, more than 25% of the world’s helium supply is under threat, Phil Kornbluth, president of Kornbluth Helium Consulting, told the American channel CNBC.
The impact is already being felt on the other side of the world, in South Korea, home to two of the world’s leading memory chip manufacturers. “Three companies hold almost all of the market share in HBM production: the Koreans SK Hynix and Samsung, as well as the American Micron,” explains Jacob Feldgoise.
The two Korean companies have helium stocks that allow them to last at least until June, but a prolongation of the conflict could put them in difficulty and derail the entire AI value chain. They are now striving to diversify their supply, particularly from the United States, the world’s second largest producer of helium, via companies like Linde and Air Products. The United States, in fact, is striving to strengthen its production to strengthen its autonomy and that of its national champions.
In 2025, several new helium production sites have started up, and others are to be launched this year, in particular an Avanti Helium project in Montana, and another from Pulsar Helium which is developing a deposit in Minnesota. Let us also cite Helium One’s enormous Galactica-Pegasus project in Colorado. Linde has also commissioned a storage site in Beaumont, Texas, capable of absorbing excess production.
In addition to these private initiatives, the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) is now calling for the reestablishment of a strategic helium reserve, modeled on that of oil (the United States had a federal helium reserve for a long time, but it was dismantled following a privatization law in 1996). The Taiwan Semiconductor Association, for its part, asked its government to set aside emergency reserves.
Government voluntarism in the service of Big Tech
The Sino-US trade war is also a threat to the AI value chain. In December 2024, China restricted the export of gallium and germanium, two metals necessary for the production of semiconductors. In the summer of 2025, she did the same with the lithium. In return, American big tech has implemented lobbying efforts and political support for federal diversification initiatives. Approaches that were heard by the Trump 2.0 administration, much closer to Big Tech than the first.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” allocated $7.5 billion to critical minerals, and the Department of Energy announced $1 billion for five initiatives covering lithium, nickel, rare earths, gallium and graphite. The government has also launched equity investments in strategic companies, such as USA Rare Earth, which is building rare earth and magnet production facilities on American soil, and of which the State is now a 10% shareholder, or even Lithium Americas, specializing as its name suggests in the development and exploitation of lithium deposits.
The US government finally launched Project Vault in February, a strategic reserve of critical minerals, including copper, gallium and germanium, supported by $10 billion in loans and $2 billion in private investment.
