AI data center boom could be bad news for other infrastructure projects

Summary

TechCrunch reports that the rapid buildout of AI data centers is starting to collide with traditional public-works priorities, as both rely on the same scarce inputs: construction labor, equipment, and financing capacity. The piece points to rising private spending on data centers that is approaching the scale of public transportation construction, setting up a real competition for crews and project timelines. Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost is quoted arguing that data center construction will inevitably "suck" resources away from other projects—an unglamorous but important constraint as governments try to modernize roads, bridges, and utilities. The deeper implication for the Race to AGI is that compute expansion isn’t just a chip problem anymore: physical infrastructure (and the workforce behind it) is becoming a bottleneck that can reshape where and how fast frontier capacity gets built.