The artificial intelligence (AI) boom is now impacting the Chilean stock exchange, driving gains in several local stocks.
Shares of Sociedad Punta del Cobre (Pucobre) and SQM are leading the charge, buoyed by the critical role their core products – copper and lithium, respectively – play in the ongoing technological megatrend.
Recently, Molymet, a Chilean company and the world’s leading processor of molybdenum and rhenium concentrates, joined the wave of AI-related investment.
With facilities in Chile, Mexico, Belgium and Germany – and a pending regulatory approval for a U.S. Acquisition – the company’s stock has surged 69.35% this year, fueled by demand for critical minerals. Molymet closed 2025 with profits of US$ 105 million, its highest level in nine years.
Despite a historically low free float and limited price fluctuation – trading between $2,500 and $3,200 from 2021 to 2024 – Molymet has experienced its largest stock increase in its history over the past year.
From January 2025 to Wednesday’s close, Molymet has risen 228.65%, climbing from $3,194 to $10,500 per share.
Whereas molybdenum prices are being supported by constrained supply and robust industrial demand, market participants suggest the company’s stock is also benefiting from a research paper positioning the metal as central to the AI strategy. The paper, released in May 2025, has been followed by a more than 170% increase in the stock price.
Use in Chips
Lam Research, a technology-focused company, has identified molybdenum as a key material for producing chips designed for AI applications, as the scaling of AI technology increases the demands of the metallization process.
According to the research, “the industry is reaching the limit of what is possible with tungsten,” a material that has been favored for chip interconnection for decades.
The report indicated that “molybdenum has emerged as the next major inflection point in metallization,” positioning it as a potential replacement for tungsten in the next generation of chips.
“Molybdenum results in lower resistance than tungsten in nanoscale wires,” the report stated, leading to faster conductivity.
In terms of manufacturing, “unlike tungsten, molybdenum does not require an adhesion or barrier layer,” which would “result in lower resistance, increasing chip efficiency and speed, and reducing the number of processing steps,” the paper detailed.
“The lower resistance of molybdenum will provide faster read, write, and logic operations in the chip,” Lam emphasized.
The Austrian Bet
Plansee Group, an Austrian tungsten company, has been steadily increasing its stake in Molymet, initially acquiring a 7% share in 2011. Through subsequent purchases, the group held a 21.19% stake in the company at the close of 2025.
This year, the European firm increased its ownership to 31.18% after acquiring the 9.9% held by the Matte family last Friday for approximately US$ 150 million.
