With Urgency in AI Competition Against China, Hampered by Construction Labor Shortage, Will Robots Take the Jobs in Trump's ‘Manufacturing Revitalization’?

Aging Population and Immigration Crackdown Shrink US Construction Labor Supply
Delays in Data Center Construction Add Burden to AI Competition with China
Increased Reliance on Automation in Manufacturing Revival Process

The construction labor shortage in the United States has emerged as an obstacle to expanding artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. The combination of an aging skilled workforce, slow generational replacement, and intensified immigration enforcement has led to a shortage of workers to build data centers and power facilities. As securing infrastructure vital for AI supremacy competition with China becomes urgent, big tech companies have started directly training skilled workers, and robots are being deployed at construction sites. Although former President Donald Trump advocated for ‘manufacturing revitalization’ and job recovery, the industrial scene ironically shows machines filling the vacancies left by humans.

US Construction Sites Need 500,000 More Workers

According to Holland Construction Services on the 18th (local time), the US construction industry needs about 500,000 additional workers this year to meet current demand. Especially in advanced facility construction sites like semiconductor and battery plants, where multiple trades intertwine, securing workforce is difficult. In a survey conducted in July and August this year by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), 87% of responding companies reported vacancies in site skilled positions. By occupation, 81% of companies hiring electricians experienced recruitment difficulties, and 77% and 76% respectively had trouble hiring HVAC technicians and concrete workers. There is also a shortage of management personnel to oversee construction. Among companies seeking site supervisors, 75% said it was hard to find qualified candidates.

Many construction sites face delayed schedules and increased cost burdens due to labor shortages. In the same survey, 42% of companies responded that their own or subcontractors’ labor shortages caused delays, with labor shortage cited as the top reason for construction delays. In residential construction, there have been cases where subsequent work could not commence because workers to erect framing after foundation work were unavailable. Scott Brenock, CEO of Tidewater Homes in Jacksonville, Florida, stated that major home builders are missing business goals and suffering hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses due to framing labor gaps. Additionally, a September survey by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) showed that the year-over-year increase rate of labor costs reached 4.2% at the median, adding to construction cost pressures.

In AI data center construction sites, there is an emergency to secure skilled workers matching project scale. In the earlier AGC-NCCER survey, 37% of companies involved in data center construction over the past year cited labor or subcontractor acquisition as the biggest challenge in winning and executing contracts. Among these, 58% reported intensified competition for skilled labor, and 49% experienced wage increase pressures. Some cases offer high wages to secure electricians and construction managers. According to Jake Rasweiler, Senior VP of Data Center division at recruitment firm Kelly Services, workers transitioning to the data center sector often receive 25-30% higher pay than before. In regions active in data center and power facility construction such as Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, shortages of specialized skilled workers including electricians persist.

Aging Skilled Workers and Stalled Generational Replacement

The causes of the labor shortage include the aging of skilled workers and slow generational replacement. According to Anirban Basu, Chief Economist at the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), about 20% of electricians in the US are aged 55 or older, many approaching retirement. The influx of younger workers to fill their positions is insufficient. Deloitte’s '2026 Construction Industry Outlook' showed that only 10% of US construction workers are under 25. Additionally, the extended time required for new entrants to become skilled workers makes labor replenishment difficult. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), electricians generally must complete a 4-5 year apprenticeship including about 2,000 hours of on-site training and separate technical education annually.

There is a significant gap between the specialized skills required for advanced facilities and the capabilities of job seekers. Matt Wilson of Holland Construction Services explained that semiconductor and battery plants have complex connections of machinery, electrical, process piping, and structures, requiring multiple skilled trades simultaneously. Data centers also demand expertise in power supply and cooling systems. Especially with the introduction of liquid cooling systems, existing personnel must acquire new technical skills. Matthew Hawkins, Education Director at Uptime Institute, pointed out that with water-based cooling installed in server rooms, the technologies workers must master and equipment reliability management requirements have changed. In the previous AGC-NCCER survey, half of respondent companies cited applicants’ lack of necessary skills, certifications, or licenses as the biggest hiring obstacle.

Table 1. Major Causes of US Construction Labor Shortage

Immigrant Labor, Backbone of Construction, Also Leaving

As skilled labor training is delayed, the Trump administration's strengthened immigration enforcement also drives away existing workers. Immigrants have supported a significant portion of construction labor. According to an analysis of US Census data by NAHB, in 2024, foreign-born workers accounted for 26.3% of construction workers and about one-third in skilled site positions. By craft, 57% of drywall and ceiling installers, 53% of roofers and painters were immigrants. Since foreign-born workers comprise 43% of construction laborers, enforcement-related labor departure directly burdens securing workforce by trade.

Actual sites experience workers reluctant to report due to rumors of enforcement or leaving workplaces. In the earlier AGC-NCCER survey, about 29% of companies reported direct or indirect impacts from immigration enforcement in the past six months. Among all respondents, 12% reported actual enforcement or rumors causing workers to leave or avoid sites, and 16% said subcontractors experienced labor loss. Even among legally authorized workers, anxiety about enforcement is rising. Last month, NAHB conveyed concerns to the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about enforcement methods at residential construction sites as some legally qualified workers avoid reporting to work in certain areas.

Decline in new immigrant inflows will also affect the future scale of workforce entering sites. Senior researcher Liodon Frost at Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies analyzed that the net increase in US skilled construction workers from 2013 to 2024 came entirely from foreign-born workers. During this period, skilled workers rose from 5.8 million to 6.2 million, and the increase of 236,000 laborers was all immigrants. However, the US international net inflow population that supported labor replenishment decreased from 2.7 million in 2024 to 1.3 million last year. The US Census Bureau forecasts that if current trends continue, the net inflow will shrink to 321,000 this year.

Infrastructure Expansion Burden in US AI Leadership Ambitions

The shrinking construction labor supply also burdens the US infrastructure expansion strategy aiming to gain superiority in AI competition with China. Large-scale computing facilities and power grids must be in place on time to train AI models and expand services, so workforce gaps on site can delay foundational development for technology advancement. The White House’s ‘US AI Action Plan’ announced in July last year lists infrastructure construction as a core task. It includes reducing permitting procedures for data centers and semiconductor plants and fostering related skilled workers such as electricians and HVAC technicians. However, industry warns of insufficient labor to execute these national investment plans. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, pointed out in September last year that sufficient workforce to support factory, supply chain, and data center expansion is lacking, emphasizing investment in skilled technical occupations.

As securing site workers becomes a key execution task in AI infrastructure investment, big tech companies are investing in training technical personnel. Google diagnosed last year that the shortage of electrical technicians could constrain the construction of AI and advanced manufacturing infrastructure in the US and announced an educational support plan targeting 100,000 electrical workers and 30,000 new apprentices. Google funds the Electrical Training Alliance (etA) to increase apprentices and incorporate AI-related technologies into training curricula. Meta also launched a construction skilled worker training program in June this year, investing USD 118 million in its first year. This program, starting in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas, offers five weeks of free training and guarantees graduates jobs at Meta data center construction sites.

The Paradox of US Manufacturing Job Restoration

Alongside workforce training, efforts to replace some site tasks with robots have also intensified. Tasks previously performed repetitively by humans are assigned to machines to reduce labor inputs and shorten construction time. Align, a US data center design and construction company, introduced Dusty Robotics’ robots to mark positions for server racks and various equipment on floors. This process had previously involved multiple workers checking blueprints and marking locations manually. Align reported saving 784 work hours and reducing required workforce by 18 in large data center projects using robots.

Robots are also deployed in power facility construction supplying data centers. According to Noah Ready-Campbell, CEO of Built Robotics, about ten robots were responsible for pile driving at Meta Hyperion Data Center's solar power project in Louisiana. This involves driving steel piles into the ground to support solar panel structures. These machines install about 1,000 piles daily, handling over half of the site’s installation volume. Ready-Campbell explained that completing the same workload by traditional methods would require three to four times the current workforce.

Within data centers, robots also undertake repetitive installation tasks. Concrete drilling robots developed by DeWalt and August Robotics drill holes in concrete floors to fix server racks, power, and piping equipment. Multiple units work simultaneously according to design plans and remove dust, reducing preparation time required for subsequent installation work. By replacing labor-shortage-affected processes with equipment, the burden of additional hiring due to data center expansion is lowered. The production field is also undergoing changes assigning work formerly done by humans to robots. At BMW’s plant in South Carolina, humanoid robots have supported production of over 30,000 vehicles last year by loading metal parts in welding processes. Thus, jobs that former President Trump aimed to revive as part of ‘manufacturing revitalization’ are increasingly being filled by robots first.