{"slug": "the-workers-meta-and-google-desperately-need-aren-t-in-silicon-valley", "title": "The workers Meta and Google desperately need aren't in Silicon Valley", "summary": "Meta and Google are investing $250 million and $50 million, respectively, in training programs for construction workers, electricians, and other tradespeople to build data centers essential for AI infrastructure. The initiatives address a shortage of blue-collar workers needed to construct physical facilities, as the industry requires an estimated 349,000 new workers this year to meet AI-driven demand. The moves highlight Big Tech's growing reliance on skilled tradespeople, despite public opposition to data center projects and criticism over AI-related layoffs.", "body_md": "The AI race has a blue-collar problem. Big Tech wants to fix it.\n\nDays after [Meta said it was launching](https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-launches-construction-data-center-jobs-program-2026-6) a $250 million program to train Americans for data center construction jobs, Google announced a similar initiative.\n\nThe search engine giant on Thursday said it is investing $50 million in skilled-trades training programs across the US in fields critical to building AI and energy infrastructure.\n\nThey are tailored for aspiring construction workers, electricians, plumbers, pipe fitters, welders, and other laborers. Some training program partnerships are already underway, a Google spokesperson said.\n\nThe moves follow efforts unveiled earlier this year by Oracle and Microsoft to expand existing initiatives aimed at building a pipeline of workers to support the AI boom. Together, they underscore a shortage of tradespeople capable of building the data centers essential to powering AI ambitions — and Big Tech's increasing role in tackling it.\n\n\"The constraint on growth isn't hiring more engineers. It's building physical infrastructure,\" said Tulane University business professor Rob Lalka. \"Silicon Valley's white-collar executives won't succeed without blue-collar workers across America.\"\n\nThe construction industry needs an estimated 349,000 new workers this year to meet demand elevated by AI, according to Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade group.\n\nSince tech companies are more accustomed to training workers to use keyboards than bulldozers, they are partnering with organizations such as the International Training Institute for the sheet metal and air conditioning industry to achieve their goals. That has made the likes of Meta and Google highly appealing to proponents of long-standing programs designed to expand the ranks of [hard-hat talent](https://www.businessinsider.com/earn-6-figures-electrician-safe-haven-from-ai-2026-3).\n\n\"We welcome the support of industry leaders like Google to create good, family-sustaining jobs and meet the growing energy needs of our economy,\" said** **Kenneth Cooper, international president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, in a statement.\n\nBig Tech's push to build more data centers, however, has also attracted foes.\n\nSome critics point to the vast number of layoffs that tech [companies have linked to AI](https://www.businessinsider.com/list-companies-replacing-human-employees-with-ai-layoffs-workforce-reductions), while residents across the US have been protesting such projects in their communities in recent months. A May Gallup poll found that seven out of 10 Americans oppose [living near a data center](https://www.businessinsider.com/gallup-opposition-data-centers-nuclear-reactors-2026-5).\n\nIn 2025, permits were issued for [176 new data centers](https://www.businessinsider.com/us-ai-data-center-power-electricity-use-consumption-2026-6) across 34 states — the most new permits in one year since the first was issued in 1976, Business Insider previously reported.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-workers-meta-and-google-desperately-need-aren-t-in-silicon-valley", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/google-meta-invest-trades-training-ai-data-center-boom-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-11 18:46:35+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-11 19:20:31.522136+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Meta", "Google", "Oracle", "Microsoft", "Tulane University", "Rob Lalka", "Associated Builders and Contractors"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-workers-meta-and-google-desperately-need-aren-t-in-silicon-valley", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-workers-meta-and-google-desperately-need-aren-t-in-silicon-valley.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-workers-meta-and-google-desperately-need-aren-t-in-silicon-valley.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-workers-meta-and-google-desperately-need-aren-t-in-silicon-valley.jsonld"}}