WASHINGTON, July 7 — A surge in copper thefts at construction sites across the United States is now delaying the build-out of artificial intelligence data centers, adding weeks to project timelines and millions in unforeseen costs, according to industry data. The U.S. Data Center Association reports that these thefts are causing project delays averaging between two and four weeks per incident. The financial toll is also significant, with costs rising by five to ten percent each time thieves strip wiring and other copper components from a site.
One case from 2023 illustrates the scale of the problem. A single theft at a Microsoft data center construction site in Prince William County pushed the project back by six weeks.
The company spent $500,000 on replacement materials and security upgrades in the aftermath. The global data center construction market was valued at $28.5 billion in 2024, and AI projects now account for 40 percent of all new builds. These are not ordinary warehouses.
They are power-hungry facilities designed to house thousands of servers running the complex calculations behind modern artificial intelligence. Delays at construction sites have consequences that ripple through the tech industry.
New data centers are needed to support the growing computational demands of AI model training. When a site is held up, it can affect the timelines for training those models. The Uptime Institute reports that data center construction delays overall have increased by 25 percent since 2020.
Theft is a contributing factor to that trend. Insurance companies are also taking notice. Premiums for construction sites have risen by 15 percent in 2024, and theft coverage is now a standard requirement for builders.
This adds another layer of cost to projects that are already capital-intensive. The pattern is clear.
Copper is valuable, easy to remove, and difficult to trace once sold for scrap. Construction sites, often sprawling and with limited security during off-hours, present an attractive target. For the AI industry, which relies on a steady pipeline of new data center capacity, these thefts represent an operational headache that goes beyond simple property crime.
Every delay in construction means a delay in the computational power needed to train the next generation of models. The U.S. Data Center Association has not released specific figures on the total number of thefts this year.
But the available data points to a problem that is not going away on its own. Builders are responding with a mix of measures. Better lighting, surveillance cameras, and on-site security personnel are becoming more common.
Some contractors are also switching to alternative materials where possible, though copper remains the standard for electrical wiring due to its conductivity. The 15 percent rise in insurance premiums for 2024 reflects the industry’s assessment of risk. Theft coverage, once an optional add-on, is now written into standard policies for data center construction.
The question for the months ahead is whether these security investments will be enough to deter thieves, or whether the delays and cost overruns will become a persistent drag on AI infrastructure expansion. For now, the data suggests that builders and insurers alike are treating copper theft as a serious, long-term threat to project timelines.
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