By Florian Hirzinger - www.fh-ap.com - Own work (Florian Hirzinger), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6212692www.hirzinger.cc
FORT McMURRAY — As Alberta and Canada look to expand data centre construction and compete for investment in artificial intelligence, provincial and federal authorities may want to examine an emerging problem affecting the rapidly growing industry in the United States.
Organized crime groups and cargo thieves are increasingly targeting shipments of copper, computer hardware and other expensive equipment destined for AI data centres, creating another security challenge for governments and companies investing billions of dollars in the technology.
The trend comes as copper prices remain elevated amid growing global demand for the metal, which is essential for electrical transmission, data centres, renewable energy projects and other infrastructure.
Copper is used extensively in data centre construction to distribute electricity and connect equipment, making large shipments of the metal particularly attractive to thieves.
One recent investigation outside Chicago resulted in the recovery of two stolen trailers carrying about US$1.3 million worth of materials destined for data centre projects.
Investigators with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office recovered one trailer carrying approximately US$300,000 worth of copper wire reported stolen from Pine Hill, Ala.
The trailer had been fitted with licence plates reported stolen in Wisconsin and was located using GPS tracking equipment.
During the investigation, the owner of the truck yard told authorities the same person who delivered the trailer had dropped off another trailer about a week earlier.
Investigators determined the second trailer had been stolen from Jacksonville, Fla., and contained approximately US$1 million worth of data centre infrastructure equipment.
The thefts illustrate the increasingly sophisticated and interstate nature of organized cargo crime as construction of AI infrastructure accelerates across North America.
Cargo theft losses in the United States were estimated at nearly US$725 million in 2025, according to data analytics company Verisk CargoNet, an increase of about 60 per cent from the previous year.
While the total number of reported theft incidents declined slightly, the average value of stolen shipments climbed from approximately US$200,000 to nearly US$275,000.
Metal theft increased 77 per cent, driven in part by strong demand and high prices for copper.
Electronics accounted for approximately 22 per cent of cargo thefts last year.
Security experts say organized crime groups are increasingly targeting servers, semiconductors and other components used to build AI infrastructure because of their high value and growing international demand.
Some criminal organizations are using sophisticated methods to identify and intercept valuable shipments, including fraudulent trucking companies, fake drivers, compromised warehouse employees and cyberattacks against transportation companies.
The FBI warned earlier this year of criminals using cyber-enabled schemes to impersonate legitimate businesses, gain access to shipping systems and redirect valuable cargo.
Other major technology thefts have demonstrated the potential value of the emerging criminal market.
A truck shipment containing approximately US$15 million in semiconductors and Apple products was stolen in Nevada last year, while thieves stole more than US$7 million worth of Nvidia computer chips from a California warehouse in 2024.
The growth of AI infrastructure is expected to increase the amount of expensive equipment moving through North American supply chains.
Alberta has been actively courting investment in AI data centres, including projects requiring large amounts of electricity and billions of dollars in new infrastructure.
The federal government has also identified artificial intelligence and data centre development as important areas for investment and economic growth.
The experience in the United States suggests governments and companies planning major AI infrastructure projects may also need to consider increased security for construction materials, transportation networks and technology supply chains as the industry expands.
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