A 25-year-old electrical superintendent now earns $40+/hour after starting at $15, thanks to the AI data center construction boom. The sector readthrough: electrical contractors, equipment suppliers, and apprenticeship programs benefit.
The artificial intelligence buildout is pulling a generation of young workers into electrical construction, a trade that offers six-figure equivalent wages without a college degree. One example: Cody Cole, a 25-year-old electrical field superintendent in Arizona, now earns more than $40 an hour after starting at $15 six years ago.
Cole told Business Insider that his employer, Corbins, an industrial electrical contractor, specializes in data center projects. The company funded his apprenticeship through the Western Electrical Contractors Association, a four-year program combining classroom instruction and 8,000 hours of on-the-job training. Cole graduated as salutatorian in 2024 and now manages 45 people.
"With the expansion of AI going at an extreme rate, there's plenty of work all over the country with these jobs," Cole said. He has traveled to New Mexico and Texas for data center projects. The work is steady, he said, and the pipeline shows no signs of slowing.
The read-through for the broader sector is clear. Data centers require massive amounts of electrical work: power distribution, backup generators, cooling systems, and fire-suppression wiring. The labor demand benefits electrical contractors and the supply chain feeding them – switchgear manufacturers, cable suppliers, and engineering firms that design the electrical backbone. Cole noted that opportunities extend beyond hands-on labor to roles in accounting, financing, and planning.
Publicly traded electrical contractors have cited data center work as a growing revenue driver. MasTec, Quanta Services, and EMCOR Group have all flagged hyperscale data center construction as a tailwind in recent earnings calls. The need for skilled electricians is a constraint on that growth, and firms that invest in apprenticeship programs – like the one Corbins funded for Cole – are better positioned to capture market share.
The skill gap in construction trades has been a persistent industry concern. The AI buildout is pulling in younger workers at a faster clip. Cole pointed to a foreman on his team who is 21 and a superintendent who is 23 or 24. Apprenticeship programs, often employer-funded, offer a path to middle-class wages without student debt. Cole said he could not justify not going to school because Corbins paid his salary during training blocks.
Concerns about data centers – water usage, noise, land use – are real, Cole acknowledged. He said the projects he works on are quiet and not intrusive. Regardless, the demand from hyperscale cloud providers and AI startups makes further expansion likely. For the electrical trade, that means sustained hiring and upward mobility.
Cole said he still feels new to the industry and wants to keep learning. His goal is to help the next generation understand the "why" behind the work, especially as data center technology evolves. "The opportunities are endless," he said.
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