Al Root

Shares of Alcoa rose on Tuesday after CEO Bill Oplinger made it clear that the aluminum producer plans to cash in on the artificial-intelligence boom.

The stock was up 4.1% at $62.28 in late trading, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively.

Alcoa can mine 48 million metric tons of bauxite, an aluminum ore, annually, and refine 10 million tons of alumina into 2.5 million metric tons of aluminum. What's more, aluminum prices are north of $3,100 per metric ton, up from about $2,600 a year ago.

To do that, Alcoa needs a lot of something AI computing requires as well: electricity.

"Stating the obvious is the advent of the AI and the data centers," Oplinger told an investor conference. "We have 10 sites currently that we're focused on selling into that space. We think we'll have that first sale in the first half of this year. There are two that could quickly follow after that."

Alcoa didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the assets it might sell.

That is all it took to send shares higher. Electricity demand is growing faster than it has in decades, tightening up the market. The average price of electricity in U.S. cities is up to about 19 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to Federal Reserve data. Five years ago, the price was closer to 15 cents.

The biggest driver of that might be power-hungry AI data centers. More AI computing is coming, with hyperscalers spending an estimated $600 billion on new equipment in 2026, up 60% year over year.

"Each site has its own variables," added Oplinger. "What a developer is looking at is how close are they to major metropolitan markets? What's the temperature level, right, if it's a cold area? How much access to megawatts of power that they have and what infrastructure is in place currently? So those are all the things that get baked into a decision. And in each one of those, we're going to try to maximize the value."

Alcoa owns several power-generating assets and has contracts that run for 10 to 20 years. Both things are increasingly valuable.

Wall Street will weigh in on the value of Alcoa's power assets after the CEO's comments. Investors are bidding up shares in the expectation that the value will look favorable.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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February 24, 2026 15:12 ET (20:12 GMT)

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