From IEEE Spectrum, January 17:
The AI data center construction boom continues unabated, with the demand for power in the United States potentially reaching 106 gigawatts by 2035, according to a December report from research and analysis company BloombergNEF. That’s a 36 percent jump from the company’s previous outlook, published just seven months earlier. But there are severe constraints in power availability, material, equipment, and—perhaps most significantly—a lack of engineers, technicians, and skilled craftsmen that could turn the data center boom into a bust.
The power grid engineering workforce is currently shrinking, and data center operators are also hurting for trained electrical engineers. Laura Laltrello, the chief operating officer for Applied Digital, says demand has accelerated for civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, as well as construction management and oversight positions in recent months. (Applied Digital is a data center developer and operator that is building two data center campuses near Harwood, North Dakota that will require 1.4 GW of power when completed.) The growing demand for skilled workers has forced her company to widen the recruitment perimeter.
“As we anticipate a shortage of traditional engineering talent, we are sourcing from diverse industries,” says Laltrello. “We are finding experts who understand power and cooling from sectors like nuclear energy, the military, and aerospace. Expertise doesn’t have to come from a data center background.”
Growing Demand for Data Center Engineers
For every engineer needed to design, specify, build, inspect, commission, or run a new AI data center, dozens of other positions are in short supply. According to the Association for Computer Operations and Management’s (AFCOM) State of the Data Center Report 2025, 58 percent of data center managers identified multi-skilled data center operators as the top area of growth, while 50 percent signaled increasing demand for data center engineers. Security specialists are also a critical need.Through the next decade, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the need for almost 400,000 more construction workers by 2033. By far the biggest needs are in power infrastructure, electricians, plumbing and HVAC, and roughly 17,500 electrical and electronics engineers. These categories directly map to the skills required to design, build, commission, and operate modern data centers.
“The challenge is not simply the absolute number of workers available, but the timing and intensity of demand,” says Bill Kleyman, author of the AFCOM report and the CEO of AI infrastructure firm Apolo. “Data centers are expanding at the same time that utilities, manufacturing, renewables, grid infrastructure, and construction are all competing for the same skilled labor pool and AI is amplifying this pressure.”
Data center developers like Lancium and construction firms like Crusoe face enormous demands to build faster, bigger, and more power-dense facilities. For example, they’re developing the Stargate project in Abilene, Texas for Oracle and OpenAI. The project has two buildings that went live in October of 2025, with another six scheduled for completion by the middle of 2026. The entire AI data center campus, once completed, will require 1.2 GW of power.
Michael McNamara, the CEO of Lancium, says that in one year his company can currently build enough AI data center infrastructure to require one gigawatt of power. Big tech firms, he says, want this raised to 1 GW a quarter and eventually 1 GW per month or less....
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