The human impact of hyper-growth
Outrageous. It's an alias a client has given to a particular data center project because of unorthodox design requirements fueled by unprecedented time-to-market expectations—footing sizes based on how big of a hole an excavator can make in a single swoop, ceiling width based on how long of a steel beam can fit on a flatbed to transport, and electrical capacity based on how many generators can be ordered in the next 12 months.
While it may sound outlandish, the specifications (and code name) perfectly embody the sentiment behind this unrelenting data center surge. An AI sprint where hyperscalers, AI firms, cloud providers and data center operators are in such need to advance their models and market share that they're basically writing open contracts to builders to ensure these multi-billion-dollar greenfield campuses are up and running in 14 to 15 months—nearly double the pace of typical construction projects.
Commercial real estate firm CBRE found that primary data center markets in North America, like Atlanta, Chicago and Northern Virginia, had a record 6,350 megawatts under construction at the end of 2024, more than double from 2023, and secondary markets like Central Washington and Houston saw significant increases in inventory. Even then, the outlook is good but not good enough to satiate demand for these cutting-edge capabilities. In their study, CBRE determined that, "Despite record construction activity, the data center market will struggle to keep pace with demand, leading to higher utilization rates in existing facilities and tighter vacancy rates."
The impact on people is another source of friction. When laborers and tradespeople literally live out of their trucks for 18 to 24 months, migrating from state to state and site to site, the pace, pressure and perfection demanded by this data center construction boom has an effect that goes beyond outrageous; it becomes life-changing.
More than just ‘big boxes’
There's a misconception that data centers aren't much different from other construction projects—big boxes that need to hold a lot of stuff. But it's not the square footage, the number of data halls or even the density of mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) that make these projects so complex; rather, it's the speed at which they move—and this relentless pace creates two distinct challenges for builders: coordination and confidence.
Construction teams all feel it, and while the details may vary, the stories always follow the same plot—we have (insert hyperscaler/provider) that is building a new data center complex outside of (insert a town you've never heard of) in the middle of (insert a state/province) and we need to start in one week with 150 people, 500 people in 60 days, and scale to 1,500 people in the next six months. The coordination required to quickly assemble subcontractors, equipment, materials and labor, all with varying experience and skillsets, get them to isolated locations in a matter of days and immediately provide project impact among several hundred workers is nothing short of herculean.
On site, the seven-days-a-week tempo is so persistent that there is zero room for errors or faulty interpretation of work plans. Field-centric roles like foreman, superintendent, and layout engineer, and the craftspeople digging the trenches, laying the pipes and pouring the concrete, must have a resolute belief that the plans are fully constructible and day-to-day work is precisely according to plan—there isn't the luxury to huddle and debate the right way to do things. If any deviations from the plan are required, those new changes are documented with updates shared back to the other project stakeholders.
Office-to-field certainty with Trimble
Traditionally, construction projects have been known to be rather democratic; interpretation is highly diverse and opinions subjective. On any given day in some corner of the site, you’re almost guaranteed to overhear, "Well, if you look at the drawing this way..." Sometimes when shovels hit the ground, designs aren't as practical as they appear on paper, so workers have had to adapt on the fly to get their part of the job done without delay. With the speed and scale of data center construction, the impact of in-field improvisation is magnified exponentially, which means the tolerance for it doesn't exist—and Trimble connected solutions and workflows make sure it doesn't need to.
With Trimble’s common data environment, this digital disarray of models, PDFs, Word files, layout data and scans are corralled into a single source of truth that knocks down data siloes and miscommunication between people and platforms, reduces friction and errors between office and field, and, most importantly, provides everyone with real-time access to the latest models and data so everyone is in sync. For data center projects that could have 30-plus layout engineers, not to mention hundreds or thousands of craft workers, Trimble Connect is the conduit between them, ensuring there's only one way to look at the models, no matter how you turn your head.
Integrated with a suite of field technology, builders can simply step out of their pickup cab, open their tablet, and in seconds validate and visualize if work is on track and on target to within a sixteenth of an inch—right down to every piece of rebar, conduit, pipe, cable tray, and embed plate.
Here comes the (data center) boom
Despite chatter of a data center contraction on the horizon, appetites for AI among businesses and consumers remain insatiable. As this stockpile of IT infrastructure continues, construction will undoubtedly accelerate, as will constraints on labor, power and materials. For workforces that will need to multiply their impact, Trimble is the partner to seamlessly unlock productivity and ensure parity between the pace and precision demanded by these projects.
Learn how Trimble construction solutions are helping to build the backbone of this new AI era.
