The construction industry’s own numbers bear this out. The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reported this week that its Construction Backlog Indicator held steady at 8.5 months in September, supported in large part by robust demand for data centers. Roughly one in five contractors was under contract for a data center project last month, and those firms reported significantly higher backlogs – 12 months’ worth of work on average – than their peers focused on other sectors.

“Falling industrywide employment, a dearth of job openings and ongoing decreases in construction spending have not diminished ABC contractor member backlog or confidence,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “This stability primarily stems from two sources. First, public sector activity has held up far better than its private counterpart, and that is supporting elevated backlog in the infrastructure category. The second source of industry momentum is, unsurprisingly, data centers.”

The economic ripple effects are substantial. For the first half of 2025, investments in AI infrastructure contributed nearly as much to U.S. GDP growth as consumer spending did, according to preliminary government data. That’s a striking development: consumer spending typically accounts for about 70% of GDP growth. Harvard economist Jason Furman notes that “U.S. GDP growth in early 2025 was almost entirely driven by investment in data centers and information processing technology.”

AI CLUSTER: The digital engine at the heart of next-gen data centers—thousands of servers working in sync to power everything from chatbots to advanced analytics. (Photo courtesy of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications)

But the AI boom isn’t just transforming skylines – it’s straining the nation’s power grid. Across the U.S., utility bills have jumped an average of 7% in the past year, a spike attributed largely to the massive power draw of AI and data center operations. In some regions, the surges have been even sharper. In New Hampshire, for example, residents saw a 9.9% increase in average bills this summer, with certain customers facing spikes as high as 25–48% depending on their utility and location, as reported by the Concord Monitor and Sprague Energy.

As data centers become major players in local energy markets, residents and businesses are increasingly footing the bill – compounding comparative softness on the residential side of the HVAC market. Leading manufacturers like Carrier are projecting third-quarter residential volumes down more than 40% year-over-year – the sharpest decline in over a decade, according to The ACHR News.

Growth rates for data center construction have been nothing short of historic. Spending jumped 30% in the last year alone – reaching an all-time high of $14 billion in July 2025 – and has increased nearly 70% since the end of 2023. Data center construction now makes up more than a third of what’s spent on traditional office buildings, a share that’s been climbing steadily as more companies race to expand their digital capacity.

The construction industry’s optimism is reflected in ABC’s latest survey, which found expectations for profit margins and staffing both on the rise, even as sales growth softened slightly. All three metrics remain above the expansion threshold, signaling continued confidence for the coming months.

The surge in data center construction raises big-picture questions: Will America’s bet on AI infrastructure pay off in sustained economic growth, or is the sector at risk of overheating? For now, the numbers show a construction boom that’s defying broader economic headwinds – and fundamentally changing the landscape of American investment.