Cisco Tests Local Metals Recovery to Address AI Supply Strain

As AI infrastructure scales, pressure is beginning to extend beyond power and land to the materials embedded across data center hardware.

Cisco is testing whether some of those materials can be recovered closer to where equipment is deployed and retired, as demand for copper, gold, and other inputs used in servers, networking systems, and power equipment continues to rise.

The networking company is working with UK-based DEScycle to trial a distributed, modular metals recovery platform using electronic scrap boards derived from Cisco hardware. The trial will run at DEScycle’s demonstration plant in Wilton, UK, where batches of disassembled equipment will be processed to evaluate recovery performance and economics.

Materials Constraint Emerges

The effort comes as AI deployments drive increased use of GPUs, high-speed networking, and power-dense systems, all of which rely on metals that are difficult to substitute and complex to source.

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