Bloomberg has again confirms the position of the United Nations Development programmes on what its described as “great divergenceā warning against the steady narrowing of global inequalities, noting that the the development recorded over the last 50 years may be reversing.
According to a Bloomberg report published on the growing competition for construction resources, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centres could slow down road, bridge and other public infrastructure projects. The report said the surge in data centre construction is placing pressure on funding, labour and materials that are also needed for government-backed infrastructure development.
Bloomberg reported that in 2025, state and local governments sold a record volume of debt for the second year in a row, with market strategists forecasting about $600 billion in additional bond sales next year. Most of the funds are expected to be channelled into infrastructure projects, particularly transportation. At the same time, data from the US Census Bureau showed that private spending on data centre construction was running at an annualised rate of more than $41 billion.
The report noted that spending on data centres is now roughly on the same level as state and local government spending on transportation construction. As a result, both sectors are competing for the same pool of construction workers, contractors and equipment at a time when the industry is already facing labour shortages due to retirements and stricter immigration policies under President Donald Trump.
Commenting on the situation, the Chief Executive Officer of Autodesk, Andrew Anagnost, told Bloomberg that data centre construction is drawing resources away from other projects. He said the competition for labour and capacity means many infrastructure projects may not move as quickly as planned, as workers and resources are increasingly absorbed by the fast-growing data centre sector.
Recalled that Last Week, RemoteworkNews published the report of the UNDP, confirming the fears and insecurity of the people on the negative impacts of the rising and spread of AI across different sectors.