Jan 15, 2026 6:30 AM

The Real AI Talent War Is for Plumbers and Electricians

The AI boom is driving an unprecedented wave of data center construction, but there aren’t enough skilled tradespeople in the US to keep up.

Photograph: Jason Ardan; Getty Images

AI companies like Meta and OpenAI have been offering multimillion-dollar pay packages to top talent, hoping to lure the best researchers and engineers away from their competitors. But there’s another dimension of the AI talent wars that has garnered far less attention: the massive shortage of electricians, plumbers, and heating and cooling technicians in the US who can build the physical data centers that power AI.

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Caroline Haskins is a business reporter at WIRED, covering war and defense contractors, the surveillance industry, and corporate accountability. She was previously a staff reporter at Business Insider, BuzzFeed News, and Vice's Motherboard, as well as a research editor at Business Insider. Send tips to carolinehaskins.61 on Signal. ... Read More

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Topicsartificial intelligence Labor data centers Training electricity

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