AI data center boom could be bad news for other infrastructure projects

Improvements to roads, bridges, and other infrastructure could take a hit as data center construction accelerates, according to Bloomberg.

In 2025, state and local governments reportedly sold a record amount of debt for the second year in a row, with strategists predicting another $600 billion in sales next year. Most of that money is expected to fund infrastructure projects. 

Meanwhile, Census Bureau data reportedly shows that private spending on data center construction was running at annualized run rate of more than $41 billion — roughly the same as state and local government spending on transportation construction.

All these projects are likely to compete for construction workers just as the industry faces labor shortages from retirements and President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Andrew Anagnost, CEO of architecture and design software maker Autodesk, told Bloomberg there’s “absolutely no doubt” that data center construction “sucks resources from other projects.

“I guarantee you a lot of those [infrastructure] projects are not going to move as fast as people want,” he said.