An enormous amount of resources and money go into the construction of a data center.
The enormous facilities are filled to the brim with extremely sought-after gear, from hard-to-get-by AI chips to cooling equipment.
And for thieves eyeing these construction projects, there’s another worthwhile target as well: oodles of copper, a metal that has risen considerably in price over the last few years.
As Business Insider reports, investigators are trying to chase down cargo thieves who stole a pair of trailers that were carrying $1.3 million worth of data center supplies, including $300,000 worth of copper wire spools.
The bounty was recovered in the Chicago area by law enforcement last week after the trailer with the copper was first reported stolen in Alabama. A separate trailer holding an estimated $1 million worth of data center infrastructure supplies had also mysteriously gone missing in Jacksonville, Florida, suggesting it was a coordinated effort to bring both to Illinois.
A separate incident saw almost $5 million worth of copper and electronics vanish while in transit, as the Canadian Press reported earlier this month.
The enormous rush to construct sprawling AI data center facilities has been a boon for cargo thieves, criminals who intercept products and valuable materials while they’re in transit. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, cargo theft accounts for roughly $35 billion in losses a year.
In other words, while the public backlash to data centers cropping up in people’s backyards across the country has grown into a major bipartisan issue that could affect the upcoming midterm elections, thieves are likely welcoming the major influx of valuables being transported — especially considering how much the price of electronics has shot up.
Cargo theft in the age of AI has turned into a sophisticated and coordinated effort.
“The bad guys are good at marketing,” risk assessment firm Verisk CargoNet head of operations Keith Lewis told the Canadian Press.
“It’s so much more strategic now, so much more targeted,” he added. “They know what’s hot and they know what’s selling.”
According to CargoNet, supply chain crime spiked 60 percent last year in Canada and the US, to almost $725 million.
“With the emergence of AI data centres, you have a lot of components for those AI data centres being stolen: server racks, RAM, copper,” Lewis continued. “The price goes up because the demand goes up.”
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