Artificial intelligence is driving enormous demand for data centers, semiconductors, electrical infrastructure, and the raw materials required to build them. Copper, lithium, and cobalt usually dominate the conversation, but another group of metals could become increasingly important as AI infrastructure expands: platinum group metals (PGMs).

At the IPMI’s 50th Annual Conference, Ed and Rich sat down with Mohammad Doostmohammadi, founder and CEO of pH7 Technologies, to discuss the growing demand for critical metals, the extreme rarity of PGMs, their role in electronics and AI infrastructure, and why recycling could become increasingly important to securing future supply.

Could AI Create New Demand for Palladium?

Historically, automotive catalytic converters have represented one of the largest sources of demand for palladium.

As the automotive industry evolves, however, the question is whether new applications could emerge to support future palladium demand.

One potential opportunity is electronics.

Printed circuit boards have traditionally used precious metals such as gold and silver because of their conductivity and resistance to corrosion. Palladium offers some similar characteristics and is already used in certain electronics applications.

With gold prices reaching historically high levels, manufacturers have an economic incentive to investigate alternative materials.

That could make palladium increasingly attractive for certain electronic components, especially as AI accelerates demand for servers, chips, circuit boards, and other computing hardware.

Why PGMs Matter to Modern Technology

Platinum group metals include:

• Platinum
• Palladium
• Rhodium
• Iridium
• Ruthenium
• Osmium

These metals possess a combination of properties that can be extremely difficult to replicate with cheaper materials.

They are highly resistant to corrosion, can withstand harsh operating environments, offer useful catalytic properties, and several are excellent electrical conductors.

Those characteristics make PGMs valuable across industries ranging from automotive emissions systems to petroleum refining, electronics, hydrogen production, chemical processing, glass manufacturing, and medical applications.

PGMs Are Extremely Rare

One of the biggest challenges surrounding PGMs is simply how little of them exists in economically recoverable concentrations.

Mohammad explains that the total amount of platinum produced throughout human history could fit within a relatively small room.

Unlike metals such as copper, which can occur at concentrations measured in fractions of a percent, PGM mining frequently deals with concentrations measured in grams per ton.

A mine might process an entire ton of material to recover only a gram or two of PGMs.

That means virtually all the material being mined and processed is waste rock.

The valuable metal represents an incredibly small fraction of the total material moved through the operation.

PGM Supply Is Highly Concentrated

Scarcity isn’t the only concern.

A significant portion of global PGM production is geographically concentrated, particularly in South Africa, with additional production coming from countries including Russia.

That creates another layer of supply-chain risk.

If production is disrupted in one of the world’s major PGM-producing regions, manufacturers cannot necessarily turn to dozens of alternative suppliers.

New deposits are difficult to discover, mines are expensive to develop, and processing PGMs is technically challenging.

Mining the Metal Is Only the Beginning

Once PGM-bearing material comes out of the ground, the metals still need to be extracted, concentrated, separated, and refined.

That process is difficult partly because of the exact characteristics that make PGMs valuable.

Their resistance to corrosion makes them extremely durable in industrial applications, but it also makes them difficult to chemically process.

Mohammad estimates that the journey from mining the material to producing refined metal ready for the market can take six months to a year.

That long processing cycle adds another constraint to an already limited supply chain.

You Probably Use PGMs Every Day

Despite their rarity, PGMs appear throughout everyday life.

A modern vehicle is one obvious example.

Catalytic converters can contain platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Spark plugs can contain platinum and iridium. Electronics throughout the vehicle can contain circuit boards using precious metals, while certain safety systems can also incorporate platinum components.

Phones, computers, industrial equipment, medical products, chemical processing systems, and other technologies can also contain small quantities of PGMs.

Individual applications might only require milligrams or even parts-per-million concentrations, but those tiny amounts become significant when multiplied across millions of products.

AI Data Centers Increase the Stakes

The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure could increase pressure across several critical-metal supply chains.

Data centers require enormous quantities of:

• Servers
• Semiconductors
• Printed circuit boards
• Electrical equipment
• Power infrastructure
• Cooling systems
• Copper wiring

PGMs play roles within portions of the semiconductor, electronics, chemical, and power infrastructure supporting these systems.

That doesn’t necessarily mean AI will suddenly become the world’s largest source of PGM demand. It does mean that continued growth in advanced computing creates another reason to pay attention to metals that historically received far less attention than copper or lithium.

The Bigger AI Problem May Be Copper

While PGMs represent an important part of the conversation, Mohammad identifies copper supply as an even larger potential bottleneck for AI infrastructure.

He cites global copper supply at roughly 24 million metric tons, with projections for demand potentially reaching around 40 million metric tons by 2035.

At the same time, existing mine production could decline as mines mature and ore grades fall.

Historically, some copper deposits produced ore grades around 1% or higher. Average grades have been declining, meaning miners increasingly need to process more rock to recover the same quantity of copper.

AI data centers add another major source of demand on top of electrification, grid expansion, electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure, and traditional industrial consumption.

Do We Have Enough Copper for AI?

When asked directly whether the world currently has enough copper to support projected AI data-center expansion, Mohammad’s answer is straightforward: no.

He points to projections requiring enormous amounts of additional copper cable and wiring for data centers that have already been approved.

And those projects represent only one piece of global copper demand.

The challenge is that increasing copper supply isn’t as simple as increasing production next year.

New mines can take years to permit, develop, and bring online, while declining ore grades make existing deposits more difficult and expensive to operate.

Recycling Could Become Much More Important

The extreme difference between mining grades and recycling grades helps explain why recovering metals from existing products is so important.

A primary mine might process material containing only a few parts per million of PGMs.

Certain recyclable materials can contain concentrations hundreds or even thousands of times greater.

That turns discarded products into a potentially valuable secondary source of critical metals.

Catalytic converters are already a well-established example of this circular supply chain, but other materials—including electronics, industrial catalysts, spark plugs, and specialty components—can also contain recoverable precious metals.

Why Spark Plug Recycling Matters

Spark plugs are a good example of valuable metals hiding inside products that are routinely discarded.

Many modern automotive spark plugs use platinum or iridium electrodes because those metals withstand extreme temperatures and corrosion.

The quantity contained in a single spark plug is small.

Multiply that across millions of spark plugs replaced by repair shops, dealerships, fleets, dismantlers, and other automotive businesses, however, and the recoverable material begins to add up.

Instead of throwing used platinum and iridium spark plugs away, recycling allows those metals to re-enter the supply chain.

Why Can’t We Just Replace PGMs With Cheaper Metals?

In certain applications, manufacturers technically can replace PGMs with cheaper base metals.

The problem is performance.

Mohammad gives an example where a PGM-based catalyst could potentially operate for years before requiring replacement, while a cheaper alternative might require significantly more frequent maintenance.

That introduces additional labor, downtime, replacement costs, and operational expenses.

The initial material may be cheaper, but the total operating cost can ultimately be higher.

That’s one reason PGMs remain important even when their market prices rise.

pH7 Technologies Is Expanding Beyond Recycling

pH7 Technologies initially focused heavily on recovering PGMs from secondary materials.

The company has since developed a commercial processing facility in Vancouver and is exploring applications for its technology within primary mining.

Copper represents a particularly interesting opportunity.

Rather than transporting huge volumes of low-grade ore to centralized processing facilities, pH7 is developing modular systems that can potentially be deployed closer to mine sites.

The goal is to help mining companies improve recovery from material they have already extracted.

Bringing Processing Closer to the Material

The same concept could eventually apply to secondary precious-metal recycling.

Geopolitical tensions and growing interest in domestic critical-mineral supply chains are encouraging countries to keep valuable materials within their borders.

Instead of shipping secondary materials halfway around the world for processing, modular recycling facilities could potentially be built closer to where those materials are generated.

Mohammad says pH7 is considering additional facilities over the next three to five years, including potential expansion into the United States and eventually other regions around the world.

AI’s Precious Metals Problem Is Really a Supply-Chain Problem

AI doesn’t run solely on software.

Behind every AI model is physical infrastructure: data centers, processors, circuit boards, power generation, electrical grids, cooling equipment, wiring, and enormous amounts of raw material.

Copper receives much of the attention because of the sheer volume that will be required.

But PGMs represent another important part of that infrastructure.

They’re extraordinarily rare, difficult to mine, geographically concentrated, complicated to refine, and used in applications where substitution isn’t always practical.

As demand for AI infrastructure, electronics, energy, and advanced manufacturing continues to grow, recovering critical metals from existing products could become just as important as finding new deposits underground.

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