Compute Runs on Minerals: Mapping AI’s Critical Mineral Exposure in the Age of Pax Silica

Every frontier model runs on minerals. Behind the GPUs, the servers, the cooling systems and the power infrastructure that make up a data centre sit gallium, germanium, rare earths, copper, tungsten and a dozen other inputs whose mining and refining are concentrated in a small number of countries. Countries like China, that have weaponized that dominance, restricting exports of gallium, germanium, graphite and rare earth magnets, and each time targeting a material critical to AI. Demonstrating how a supply chain chokepoint becomes a tool of statecraft.

What exactly is AI infrastructure,…

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