Shares of LS Group (006260) affiliates are surging as international copper prices set a record high and demand for power grids driven by artificial intelligence data centers builds at the same time. Analysts read the move as reflecting expected earnings gains across the group, which spans the power infrastructure supply chain from cables and transformers to submarine cables, in a structure where rising copper prices feed into higher selling prices for cables and power equipment.
As of 11 a.m. on the 9th, LS was trading around 336,500 won, up 11% from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange. Gaon Cable (000500), a cable affiliate, jumped 16.92%, while buying concentrated across group shares with power infrastructure value chains, including LS Eco Energy (5.36%), LS ELECTRIC (010120) (4.99%), LS Materials (4.12%) and LS Marine Solution (3.25%).
A spike in copper prices on the London Metal Exchange served as the catalyst for the rally in LS Group shares. Three-month copper on the LME climbed to $14,703 per ton on the 8th, setting another record. Copper prices have risen 18% so far this year. Ahead of expectations of U.S. tariffs, copper has flowed toward the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division, pushing U.S. inventories to a record 696,000 tons. LME stockpiles, by contrast, plunged 40% from the end of May, and Shanghai Futures Exchange inventories shrank 85% from their March peak to about 63,000 tons, highlighting a geopolitical imbalance between supply and demand.
Bad weather in Chile, the largest supplier and the source of 25% of global copper mine output, has deepened the supply squeeze. According to The Wall Street Journal and other outlets, Chile's copper export value fell 14% from the previous month to $4.62 billion in August, the lowest since July 2025, as heavy rain and snow during the Southern Hemisphere winter halted operations at major mines and shipments at ports. The drop came even though the average price of electrolytic copper rose 49% from a year earlier to $14,353 per ton in August, because physical shipments fell sharply. Electrolytic copper is refined through electrolysis to a purity of at least 99.95% and is used mainly in construction materials such as cables and piping.
Supply-and-demand strains also appear to be turning structural, with U.S. big tech companies investing directly in raw material mines as AI data center expansion worsens power grid shortages. Canadian miner Ivanhoe Mines said copper reserves at its Western Foreland project in Congo were revised up 30% to 12 million tons, and global hyperscalers including Amazon, Microsoft and Google are said to be inquiring about long-term purchase agreements and equity stakes in mines.
"The cable and ultra-high-voltage power equipment industries are structured to pass higher raw material costs through to product prices, so a spike in copper prices shows up as both inventory valuation gains and higher selling prices at the same time," a securities industry official said. "Diagnoses continue that the global shortage of copper concentrate is a structural deficit rather than a cyclical one, so copper prices are expected to rise over the long term."
