As an electrician in training in Detroit, Tyler Shelton spends most of his days popping down manholes to fix cables and other electrical gear. But lately, his company has sent many of its workers to a sprawling data center that just broke ground about an hour away.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody wants that money,\u201d Mr. Shelton, 29, said during lunch break at his apprenticeship\u2019s twice-a-month classroom day. \u201cWe have work to do, but we\u2019re also losing a good chunk of manpower to these data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon, he could join them: OpenAI\u2019s project in Saline Township is the biggest single investment in Michigan\u2019s history, according to the state<\/a>, requiring hundreds of electricians working 10-hour days, seven days a week. Despite the overtime bonanza, Mr. Shelton has mixed feelings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to have a house in the next year or so,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s like, I understand the draw, but I also like to have a life outside work.\u201d<\/p>\n The data center boom is on everybody\u2019s mind at the Detroit Electrical Industry Training Center, where about 850 apprentices train between long days on the job. The megaprojects are pulling skilled trade workers into remote locations with some of the highest pay and bonuses that the industry had ever seen.<\/p>\n The next generation of electricians is also top of mind for the artificial intelligence companies spending hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure they have enough people<\/a> to build and run their data centers.<\/p>\n That commitment includes this training facility, which is one of 270 supported by a partnership<\/a> between the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and contractors. As part of a $50 million program from Google<\/a>, the group plans to boost annual apprenticeship enrollment to 30,000 from 19,500 for the next three years in locations selected by Google. Another grant from BlackRock, the asset manager, would widen training pipelines for its data centers in Texas, part of a $100 million effort<\/a> to expand the skilled trades.<\/p>\n Tina Williams was hired to manage the grants, which are the alliance\u2019s first from the private sector. She hopes the money strengthens the work force enough to meet demand from data centers without abandoning other clients, like Mr. Shelton\u2019s employer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to bring in enough to fulfill the need for the data centers, while maintaining our core work in each of these locals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Human-Built<\/p>\n There is no parallel in American history<\/a> for the boom underway in the construction of data centers, fueled by companies with functionally unlimited cash that are racing to supply skyrocketing demand for their A.I. models.<\/p>\n The explosion has offset flagging activity in other sectors, like office construction, which never recovered after the pandemic. Housing has been depressed by high interest rates, and offshore wind felled by political opposition. Still, competition for labor \u2014 never mind land and materials \u2014 is starting to weigh on other parts of the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no question the resources are very limited, so decisions to build one thing kind of drag from another,\u201d said Mario Iacobacci, who runs the construction and infrastructure advisory practice at Oxford Economics.<\/p>\n Developers are paying a premium for workers, especially in the rural areas where they are building data centers. According to an analysis<\/a> by Indeed, the job listings website, hourly installation and maintenance jobs at data centers pay 42 percent more than similar jobs in other fields.<\/p>\n Behind that inflated pay is a bidding war. In markets with a lot of data center construction, like Dallas and Northern Virginia, workers can jump ship for bonuses or higher per diem rates. The competition has driven contractors to staffing services like Aerotek.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is creating a labor tension that is really delicate,\u201d said Marty Schager, Aerotek\u2019s director of data center market development. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a passive job-seeker community out there right now that I think is looking to potentially capture opportunity with this once-in-a-generation data center gold rush.\u201d<\/p>\n There is some precedent for tech companies to teach people to maintain their facilities. Microsoft started programs for data center technicians in 2018, and now operates 39 locations around the world that have trained 15,000 people.<\/p>\n But the A.I. era has drawn tech companies much further into the construction business. They\u2019re working with community colleges and unions to design classes that can get people on site as quickly as possible, even if they keep learning on the job.<\/p>\n Tony Qorri is vice president for construction at DataBank, a data center developer and landlord. He spends a lot of time with his contractors to plan their work force strategy years into the future, asking them to forgo other jobs to staff his project if they can\u2019t find and train enough workers.<\/p>\n \u201cEven some folks that are graduating high school, these companies are going after them saying: \u2018We\u2019ve got to train you up \u2014 this is the way to make money,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In one of the largest efforts, Meta, the social media giant, has allocated $115 million for the first year of what it says will be a multiyear commitment to train construction workers, starting with about 5,000 participants. They will complete a four-week training course, with travel and lodging paid for, then work on a site with one of Meta\u2019s contractors<\/a>.<\/p>\n The program is run partly by Associated Builders and Contractors, a nonunion trade association. It\u2019s putting together a curriculum of basic construction skills tailored to data centers, hoping to keep projects on time and on budget.<\/p>\n \u201cThe initial goal is, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s get as many of these folks on the Meta sites as possible, keep them in the family,\u2019\u201d said Joel Thames, the association\u2019s vice president for work force development. \u201cIf someone leaves and goes to another sector or goes to a contractor that\u2019s not working on a Meta site, we all kind of agree that that\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean McGarvey is the president of North America\u2019s Building Trades Unions, an alliance that represents three million workers. Its affiliates spend about $2.5 billion annually on apprenticeship programs and other continuing education, paid for by employers and union members. Mr. McGarvey said his group could train as many people as the A.I. giants needed, as long as they made an early commitment to hiring union workers.<\/p>\n