Huang sees data center boom driving demand for skilled trades
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says AI infrastructure will require vast numbers of electricians, plumbers and carpenters as data center spending rises.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the build-out of AI data centers will create heavy demand for skilled trades, including electricians, plumbers and carpenters. His comments point to a labor need behind the AI boom at a time when many young workers are being warned that automation could narrow some entry-level office paths.
Huang told the U.K.’s Channel 4 News in late 2025 that data center construction would require “hundreds of thousands” of tradespeople to build the new facilities. He said skilled craft work across economies would expand sharply, adding that capacity would need to keep rising year after year.
AI spending creates a construction problem
Fortune reported that Nvidia announced in 2025 a $100 billion investment in OpenAI to support data centers using Nvidia AI processors. McKinsey has projected that global capital spending on data centers will reach $7 trillion by 2030.
That spending translates into large construction workforces. Fortune reported that a 250,000-square-foot data center can use as many as 1,500 construction workers while it is being built, with many making more than $100,000 plus overtime and without a college degree requirement.
After a facility opens, Fortune reported, about 50 full-time employees typically maintain it. Each of those jobs also supports another 3.5 jobs in the local economy, according to Fortune.
Huang has also tied future career opportunity to physical sciences. Asked by CNBC what he would study if he were 20 years old again, Huang said a younger version of himself would probably choose more of the physical sciences than software sciences.
Other executives warn of trade shortages
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink raised a similar concern in March 2025 at an energy conference. Fink said he told members of the Trump team that the U.S. risked running short of the electricians needed to build AI data centers, adding, “We just don’t have enough.”
Fink linked the strain to deportations of immigrant labor and limited interest among young Americans, according to Fortune. His warning came as AI companies, utilities and real estate developers face pressure to add computing capacity for generative AI systems.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has also pointed to a mismatch between U.S. reshoring goals and the available labor force. Farley told Axios that the intent was present, but asked how the country could bring work back without people to do the jobs.
In a 2025 LinkedIn post, Farley said the U.S. was already short 600,000 factory workers and 500,000 construction workers. The U.S. Department of Education has made expansion of skilled-trades programs a priority, according to Fortune.
Some young workers are choosing trades
Fortune cited Jacob Palmer, a Gen Z worker from North Carolina, as one example of that shift. After high school, Palmer decided against college and entered an apprenticeship at a contracting firm to become an electrician.
Palmer started his own business by age 21, according to Fortune. He grossed nearly $90,000 in 2024 and reached six figures in 2025.
Palmer said his path left him without the debt burden facing some college graduates. “I don’t owe anybody anything,” he told Fortune.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.