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Commodities will be some of the big winners of the data center boom, according to Jeff Currie.
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The former Goldman Sachs analyst laid out his bull case for four commodities in particular.
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The assets are the raw material constraints on building new data centers, he said.
The data center-fueled bull market is set to expand to new frontiers.
That’s according to Jeff Currie, the former global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, who said he expects commodities to win big from the boom in data centers.
Speaking to Bloomberg Television on Tuesday, he identified four areas in particular that could take part in what he sees as a broadening bull market in commodities: Natural gas, base metals, precious metals, and crude oil.
That’s largely because those investments are the raw materials that are considered to be restraints on building more data centers, he said. Here are the bull cases he sees for those assets:
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Natural gas – Powers gas turbines in data centers.
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Base metals, like steel and copper – Makes up data center components like gas turbines and the energy grid.
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Precious metals – Metals like gold, silver, and palladium are known to be used in data center components.
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Crude oil – Supplies power to data centers. There are also no major non-OPEC projects related to oil beginning next year, Currie added, another factor that could drive up its price.
A bull market in commodities has already started in gold, Currie noted, pointing to bullion’s steep run-up over the past year. The precious metal is up 54% year-to-date.
“The constraint on there is gas turbines. It’s grid. Grid is copper,” Currie said of the data center buildout in the US. “All of these old economy assets are really coming back to bite.”
He said he believes some of the investment in AI has been misdirected. Markets need to invest in the inputs required for data centers, like metals and gas, in order for those resources to be available, he said.
Currie added that a lot of the capex earmarked for AI would eventually go toward commodities anyway.
“We look at commodities — they’re the most undervalued asset on your screen today,” Currie said.
Currie has made the bull case for commodities for years. In 2022, he said he foresaw commodities entering a new “supercycle,” which could lead areas like oil to outperform for the next decade.
“I think this is that broader supercycle. We’re witnessing it in metals and we’re going to see a continuation of it throughout this decade.” he added.
Read the original article on Business Insider