ASHBURN, Va., July 7 — The booming construction of artificial intelligence data centers across the United States has created a lucrative new target for thieves, with thieves stripping copper wiring and making off with expensive servers and cooling units from active building sites. The trend, documented since early 2024, has hit states including Virginia, Texas, and California, and is now forcing developers to fundamentally rethink their security calculus on projects that represent the physical backbone of the AI economy. The scale of the problem is stark.
A report from the Data Center Coalition in March 2025 estimated that copper theft alone accounted for $50 million in losses at AI data center construction sites in 2024. The stolen copper, typically sold to scrap metal recyclers, commanded prices around $4 per pound as of 2025.
For some developers, the thefts have driven up security costs by an estimated 15 to 20 percent and caused project delays of up to several weeks.
Strategic Vulnerability in a Booming Sector
The broader stakes here are significant. Global data center construction spending is projected to reach $250 billion in 2025, up from $180 billion in 2023, a surge fueled directly by the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are racing to build new facilities specifically designed to support AI workloads.
This makes their construction sites, often sprawling and located in remote or developing industrial parks, extremely attractive targets for thieves who understand the value of what is being installed. Strategically, the thefts represent a vulnerability in the supply chain for the nation’s most critical emerging technology.
Every stolen server or spool of copper wiring is not just a direct financial loss; it is a delay in the deployment of computing power that companies and government agencies are betting on for everything from drug discovery to national security applications. The calculus for developers has shifted: the cost of advanced security is now a mandatory line item, not an optional expense.
Law Enforcement Response and Persistent Challenges
Local law enforcement agencies are responding. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia, which sits in the heart of the world’s largest data center market, has formed a dedicated task force to address the issue. But arrests remain low.
The difficulty of tracking stolen materials — particularly copper that is melted down and indistinguishable from legitimate scrap — means that even when thefts are discovered quickly, the trail often goes cold before it reaches the recyclers who are the ultimate buyers. What this signals is a cat-and-mouse game that the thieves are currently winning.
The same characteristics that make data center construction sites efficient — prefabricated components, standardized equipment, and large staging areas — also make them predictable targets. Industry experts warn that without better security measures, including surveillance drones and GPS tracking on equipment, the problem will worsen as AI data center construction accelerates. The pattern is not confined to any one region.
Incidents have been reported across the country, from the tech hubs of California to the energy-rich plains of Texas and the dense data center alley of Northern Virginia. This geographic spread suggests coordinated operations rather than opportunistic local crime, a theory supported by the sheer volume of specialized equipment being stolen.
For the companies building the future of AI, the message is clear: the construction sites themselves have become a front line in a new kind of industrial conflict. The thieves are organized, the market for stolen materials is liquid, and the pace of construction shows no signs of slowing. As global spending on data centers climbs toward a quarter-trillion dollars this year, the incentives for theft will only grow.
The industry’s ability to secure its supply chain, from the factory floor to the server rack, will be a defining test of its resilience in the years ahead.
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