New Delhi, June 25 -- The world is betting its future on artificial intelligence. That future runs on copper - and the world is starting to run short.

By Ankit Srivastava, Chief Editor

Oil made the twentieth century. It financed wars, toppled governments, and drew borders we still argue over. The metal that may end up shaping the twenty-first is far less glamorous. Copper doesn't burn or explode. It gets no cartel summits, no breathless tickers on cable news. Yet without it, none of the machines we've decided to build this decade will run - and there is a real and growing chance the world cannot dig and refine enough of it in time.

Start with what artificial intelligence actually is, physically. Strip away the talk of clouds and models...