Key Minerals in Data Centers Infographic

Key Minerals in Data Centers

Data centers are facilities that house computer systems, including servers, to store and manage data. Demand for data centers is rising, especially to support new AI technologies that are computationally intense. Data centers require large amounts of energy and mineral resources to build, including critical minerals. The U.S. relies on imports from other countries for many of these minerals. Here are some of the key minerals essential to data centers.

How to Read This: Here are key minerals used in each part of the data center, and the percent the U.S. imports to meet consumption for that mineral (based on the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025).

Serverboards and Circuitry: Serverboards connect the essential electrical components of a server. These, and other intricate circuitry, require minerals that are able to efficiently conduct electricity and are resistant to corrosion - especially copper. 

Silver - 64% 

Gold - 0%

Copper - 45%

Tin - 73%

Tantalum - 100%

Palladium - 36%

Platinum - 85%

Heat Sinks: Heat sinks prevent servers from overheating by transferring heat away from sensitive electronics. These metals are highly conductive, malleable and resistant to corrosion.  

Aluminum - 47%

Copper - 45%

Semiconductors and Microchips: Microchips and processors are the “brains” of data centers. They work because of semiconductor materials like silicon and germanium that conduct electricity under specific conditions. 

Arsenic - 100%

Flourspar - 100%

Gallium - 100%

Germanium - 100%

Indium - 100%

Palladium - 36%

Platinum - 85%

Silicon - <50%

Tantalum - 100%

Magnets and Data Storage: Specialized magnetic materials are used in hard disk and solid-state drives to store and retrieve data.

Barite - >75%

Boron - 0%

Rare Earth Elements - 80%

Data centers are energy-intensive. 

In addition to minerals required to build data centers, mineral resources are also used in energy production and storage to power data centers. Between 2014 and 2024, data center load growth tripled. By 2028, data centers could consume 12% of total U.S. electricity (Shehabi et al. 2024, United States Data Center Energy Usage Report, https://doi.org/10.71468/P1WC7Q).

The USGS tracks over 90 mineral commodities in 180 countries to provide information about the supply risks of, demand for, and flow of minerals used in diverse sectors of the economy.