U.S. data center construction spending rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized level of $68.3 billion in June, significantly exceeding the $44.2 billion for conventional office buildings for the first time, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 46%; meanwhile, conventional office building spending declined by about 12% during the same period. This crossover is due to both the expansion of AI infrastructure and the pressure on traditional office building construction from remote work and high financing costs.
Data center construction drives demand to power grids, transformers, cooling equipment, and engineering contracting, but the $68.3 billion figure only includes buildings and fixed facilities, excluding servers and racks, and is therefore far lower than enterprises' total AI capital expenditure.
