AI will drive demand for merchants powering data center buildout

Demand for new AI data centers is increasing, but they cannot build themselves.

Big Tech is investing billions to build these special facilities with four hyperscalers, Alphabet, Microsoft, MetaAnd AmazonFunding these developments at a combined capex expense of nearly $700 billion.

Amazon said last month it had committed $12 billion to build a new AI data center in Louisiana, creating 540 full-time jobs at the site and 1,700 other roles for electricians, technicians and security specialists.

Meta invested $27 billion last year in a joint venture with Blue Owl Capital To build its massive Hyperion data center in Louisiana, it is expected to use more electricity than the city of New Orleans.

While anxiety around AI replacing white-collar jobs has reached a fever pitch, the data center boom is creating lucrative opportunities for skilled tradespeople.

“The digital revolution needs a massive physical foundation,” said Sander van Noordende, CEO of the world’s largest recruitment agency Randstadtold CNBC. “Ultimately, the real constraint on global technology growth is not just a lack of microchips, power, or capital; it’s a severe lack of the specialized talent needed to build it.”

Between 2022 and 2026, demand for robotics technicians will increase by 107%, according to a global analysis of 50 million job postings released Wednesday by Randstad. For cooling – or HVAC – system engineers, the growth rate was 67%, and industrial automation technician vacancies increased by 51%.

Meanwhile, job listings for traditional skilled trade jobs such as construction workers and electricians increased by 27%, according to Randstad’s analysis.

“The debate surrounding the impact of AI on the labor market often focuses entirely on the software side, specifically, whether productive models will displace white-collar jobs. But a critical reality is being completely overlooked: AI cannot build its own data centers,” Noordende said via email comments.

With roughly 12,000 data centers in existence globally today and thousands more to be built to build high-performance AI computing capacity, it’s essential to update outdated mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems every four to six years, according to Mike Matthews, digital infrastructure leader at reinsurance firm Marsh.

Mathews noted “manpower-specific areas of growth” as a result of these retrofitting requirements, with network engineers, electricians, mechanical engineers and plumbing and heating contractors being assigned to install new liquid cooling systems.

A fourth-generation plumber himself, Mathews described these roles as “new-collar” jobs that employ traditional white-collar and blue-collar workers alongside each other and value the same.

“The data center space will be one of the first times when high-skill workers who physically work next to network engineers with college degrees will be highly compensated. And I think that’s the best social mix we’re going to have across data centers,” Matthews added.

Randstad’s Noordende said the “scarcity premium is taking effect” and that advertised wages for HVAC engineers have increased by roughly 10% to 15% over the past four years.

“As AI infrastructure demand outpaces the shrinking labor supply, wage growth for these specialized roles is rising significantly,” Noordende said, adding that six-figure salaries can be achieved in the sector.

Specialist and technical professionals moving into higher-level data center roles typically see a 25% to 30% salary increase, according to staffing firm Kelly Services, which shared estimates with CNBC based on internal and third-party data. That said, premiums can vary by role and full-spectrum salary data for data center positions is still emerging.

Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang — a key figure behind the AI ​​data center boom — predicted in January that “six-figure salaries” were on the horizon for workers building AI factories.

A key driver of these salary increases is the shortage of trade workers, with the U.S. facing a potential shortage of 1.9 million manufacturing workers by 2033, according to 2025 data from the National Association of Manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the US-based Associated Builders and Contractors trade group estimates that nearly half a million new workers will be needed in 2027, up from 349,000 in 2026.

“(Skills shortage) is a huge problem now, and it’s only going to get worse,” Pure Data Centers CEO Gary Wojtaszek told CNBC.

“The good thing is that AI isn’t going to replace any of those jobs — someone has to operate those machines, so those are really important jobs, and that’s a big challenge for the industry as a whole.”

To overcome skills shortages, businesses and governments need to invest in training programs, said Randstad’s Noordende.

According to William Self, chief workforce strategist at global professional services firm Mercer, skills shortages lead to cross-industry poaching because there is considerable overlap in operational technical skills needed for energy, defense and technology.

Last March, Blackrock As CEO Larry Fink emphasized that capital alone is not enough to realize the $10 trillion investment needed in infrastructure, he launched a $100 million initiative to empower the next generation of business workers.

“(The) skills profile is evolving faster than traditional job descriptions can track,” Mercers Self said in a virtual press briefing on the topic.

“Because of supply shortages, companies that are winning this talent competition will invest in both traditional recruiting and non-traditional workforce development. I’m looking at apprenticeship programs, community college partnerships, military veteran pipelines and internal talent academies to grow companies’ own talent.”

But the boom in demand for key AI infrastructure jobs faces several hurdles, including an aging demographic and geographic constraints.

Roughly 1 in 4 workers globally is approaching retirement age, and the talent pool is not being replenished fast enough, according to Nordende.

“Unlike software developers who often work remotely, skilled trades have less geographic mobility,” he said.

“An equipment technician or construction worker needs to be physically on-site. When a company builds a new AI data center or manufacturing plant, it’s a region-changing event that can quickly drain local talent pools.

Mercers Self said it was challenging to predict how much “risk pay rate” would be built into salaries in the future.

Earlier this month, Amazon Web Services data centers in the United Arab Emirates were targeted by Iranian drone strikes. As the conflict in the Middle East unfolds, “you can imagine a certain psychological burden on people working in facilities who are well known to be hot targets or bad actors, which may additionally increase the types of relief packages we see to draw these populations into these centers,” Self added.