Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Predicts Huge Increase in ‘Six-Figure’ Construction Jobs Because of AI Data Centers

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is speaking out about the tech industry’s push to construct massive data centers and how it's good news for the job market.

"This is the largest infrastructure buildout in human history," Huang said to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "That's going to create a lot of jobs."

Huang notes that blue-collar jobs are on the rise.

"It's wonderful that the jobs are related to trade craft," he said. "We're going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steelworkers and network technicians and people who install and fit out the equipment.

"In the United States, we're seeing quite a significant boom in this area. The salaries have gone up nearly double. And so we're talking about six-figure salaries for people who are building chip factories or computer factories or AI factories. And we have a great shortage in that.

"Everybody should be able to make a great living. You don't need to have a Ph.D. in computer science to do so. And so I'm delighted to see that."

Raleigh, NC-based construction forecasting firm FMI Corp. predicts that data center construction spending will rise by 23% in 2026.

Andy Halik, president of Chicago-based construction company Skender, told The Wall Street Journal that data centers can cost more than $1 billion to build and employ thousands of workers on the construction site.

Fraser Patterson, founder and CEO of Skillit, an AI-powered hiring platform for construction workers, tells Realtor.com®, "The same electricians, welders, heavy equipment operators, and HVAC specialists who once built office towers or shopping centers are now being pulled into data center projects at record speed."

Patterson says that demand for labor in areas where data centers are being built "is currently voracious and is directly translating into higher utilization and higher pay for skilled workers."

He says that in Dallas, one of the largest and fastest-growing data center markets, electricians working on data center projects are earning over 30% more than the public market average for the same role.

What are data centers?

Data centers are facilities designed to store, process, and manage large amounts of digital information used to train, run, and scale artificial intelligence systems.

They contain servers and networking equipment, supported by power and cooling systems that maintain proper operating temperatures.

Popular states where data centers are being built include Virginia, Texas, California, Illinois, and Arizona.

Anita Verma-Lallian, CEO of Arizona Land Consulting, told Realtor.com in October how her company had purchased hundreds of acres of land in the Arizona desert with the purpose of building data centers.

She chose Buckeye as the AI data center site—one of the fastest growing cities in the state.

"There's a good workforce that lives there. A lot of people commute from there, as well. We are creating local jobs, which is great for everyone," Verma-Lallian said.

Wyoming is on track to become a major AI hub after Laramie County commissioners unanimously approved plans this month for a 1.8-gigawatt data center that could expand to 10 gigawatts, making it the largest AI campus in the nation.

Data centers drivers

Data centers can provide economic and financial benefits to a community, such as increased tax revenue, temporary construction employment, and the possibility of drawing additional businesses or investment. These projects often require improvements to infrastructure like broadband, electrical systems, and roadways, which may offer long-term advantages for local residents and businesses.

But it's also spurred debate over the data centers bringing increased noise for nearby residents, possible decreased property values, and high resource consumption, including water use and electricity strain.

In Newton County, GA, Meta’s $750 million data center guzzles about 500,000 gallons of water a day, roughly 10% of the county’s entire supply, The New York Times reports.

That’s left some residents living with taps that spit out brown sediment.

Aaron Wright, CEO of Solomon Group and Solomon e3, a climate tech company focused on equitable energy solutions for underserved communities, tells Realtor.com, "As utilities race to meet AI-driven energy demand, infrastructure costs are rising and those costs are passed [on] to everyday ratepayers."

The state that delivers the most electricity to data centers, Virginia, saw a 3.1% increase in electricity prices from May 2024 to May 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The other four states that deliver the most electricity to data centers are Texas, with electricity rates up 4.4%; California, up 1.9%; Illinois, up 12.2%; and Oregon, up 5.5%.