While most sectors of the new construction field are struggling, AI center spending is boosting the entire industry.
Podcaster and writer Derek Thompson, in a new essay that takes a look at key economic metrics surrounding AI, used data from Harvard Kennedy School economist Jason Furman, who found that data center construction grew by 64.5 percent over the past year, with energy infrastructure building as the only other category on the positive side of the findings, even if it was just 4.1 percent.
The growth in new facilities to supply power made sense given the enormous energy demands of data centers.
Thompson reported that all other categories, including multi-family home building, factories, retail, and educational facilities, declined. Thompson is perhaps best known for his “abundance” theory, which the Futurism.com website described as “a deregulation-brained policy agenda with roots in neoliberal economic thought.”
The website concluded that “if there’s any abundance to be had in the US economy at the moment, it’s clearly coming on the back of AI,” cautioning the surge would likely not go on indefinitely.
