Layer 10 — Materials & upstream inputs

Position in the die→grid hierarchy: outside the fence.

Raw materials several steps upstream that AI demand still moves: copper, aluminum, electrical steel for transformer cores, rare-earth magnets, specialty glass, refrigerants, industrial gases, and export-control-sensitive critical minerals.

Parts in this layer

• 10.01 Copper (busbars, cable, cold plates, transformer windings) · 23 companies
  Refined copper metal and copper products — wire, cable, sheet and strip — used as the primary electrical conductor and a thermal-transfer material throughout the data center.
• 10.02 Aluminum (heat sinks, cable, structures) · 10 companies
  Refined aluminum metal and mill products — sheet, extrusion, casting — used for heat sinks, cable conductors, and structural and enclosure parts across the data center.
• 10.03 Grain-oriented electrical steel & amorphous cores (transformers)tight · 9 companies
  Grain-oriented electrical steel and amorphous metal alloy used to build the laminated cores inside power, distribution and instrument transformers.
• 10.04 Rare earths & permanent magnets (fans, motors, gensets, wind) · 15 companies
  Rare-earth elements and the permanent magnets made from them, used in motors and fans throughout the facility, from server and cooling fans to generator and turbine components.
• 10.05 Specialty glass & glass fiber (optical fiber, T-glass, glass cores) · 8 companies
  Purpose-engineered glass and glass fiber — optical fiber, low-loss T-glass fabric, and glass-core material — used in network cabling and inside advanced chip packages.
• 10.06 Refrigerants & insulating gases · 6 companies
  Refrigerant chemicals used in cooling equipment and dielectric gases used to insulate and interrupt current inside medium- and high-voltage switchgear.
• 10.07 Industrial & specialty gases (fabs, lasers, suppression) · 6 companies
  Bulk and specialty industrial gases — nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, argon and others — used in chip fabrication, laser manufacturing, and fire suppression systems.
• 10.08 Critical minerals: gallium, germanium, indium, tungsten, beryllium · 7 companies
  A group of minor metals — gallium, germanium, indium, tungsten and beryllium — used in semiconductors, optics, thermal interface materials and specialty alloys, with supply concentrated in China and subject to export controls.

Public plays in this layer

Listed companies with the most part placements in layer 10. Placement count is breadth, not revenue exposure.