Google and Meta fund trades training to build AI data centers

Meta and Google are investing in training programs to expand the skilled labor needed for a boom in data-center construction. Meta unveiled a $250 million program to train Americans for data-center construction jobs, and Google said it is investing $50 million in skilled-trades training across the US.

The initiatives target construction workers, electricians, plumbers, pipe fitters, welders and other laborers, and some partnerships are already underway. The moves follow efforts by Oracle and Microsoft to expand programs intended to build a pipeline of workers for AI and energy infrastructure.

They underscore a shortage of tradespeople able to build the data centers that power AI. "The constraint on growth isn't hiring more engineers. It's building physical infrastructure," Tulane business professor Rob Lalka said. The construction industry needs an estimated 349,000 new workers this year to meet demand elevated by AI, the Associated Builders and Contractors says.

United States

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