China dominates the minerals that power AI. But one company claims there's enough supply on the ocean floor to last for hundreds of years

deep-sea mining equipment (Credit: WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

The next frontier in the AI arms race may be a couple miles beneath the Pacific Ocean.

Minerals like copper and cobalt are in high demand thanks to the $700 billion AI infrastructure buildout. Microsoft’s 80-megawatt Chicago site, for example, required 2,100 tons of copper alone. Nickel, cobalt, and lithium are needed for the batteries that power data centers. Rare earths are critical to powering the magnets in server fans and hard drives that keep AI systems up and running.