Data Center Boom Creates New Class of Six-Figure Jobs

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicts that six-figure jobs will no longer come from Silicon Valley, but from those building data centers. These jobs require no college degree and pay over $100,000, with a shortage of hundreds of thousands of workers.

Data center construction starts approached $80 billion nationally in 2025, nearly triple the previous year's figure. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation puts the sector's worker shortage at roughly 439,000 people this year alone.

The labor needs of data centers are driving up wages, with workers seeing pay jumps of 25% to 30% over their previous jobs. However, homebuilders have no equivalent backer, selling into what buyers can afford on thin margins.