Data center construction spending surged in July

U.S. spending on data center construction climbed sharply in July, with Census Bureau data showing an annual pace of more than $75 billion for the month.

The jump underscored what the source described as "The data center boom continues." Construction spending on AI data center "shells" rose at an annualized rate of nearly 60% from July 2025 levels, according to data released Tuesday.

The article said the surge matters because "It shows the AI building frenzy was gathering strength this summer, even as - or perhaps because - a bipartisan backlash grows."

The July figure reflects the value of construction "put in place" during the month. It applies only to the building costs for the large warehouse-like structures that house AI infrastructure.

Those costs include construction expenses such as labor, materials, contractor profits, architectural and engineering work, and miscellaneous overhead, interest and taxes. The total does not include servers, racks, chips or memory.

The source noted a limit to the headline number, saying, "Reality check: Despite the gobsmacking amount of money being spent on data center construction, it's a pittance compared with what it costs to fill a data center with increasingly expensive processors and memory chips."

It added that "Estimates peg construction at roughly 20% of all-in costs for a data center."

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