The AI boom isn't just driving the stock market to record highs. It's boosting the entire U.S. economy — albeit with consequences should the bubble burst. As The New York Times notes, a quarter of all recent economic growth owes to software and computer equipment. That doesn't include the billions of companies worldwide are committing to infrastructure such as data centers and power plants — $375 billion this year and a projected $500 billion next. But if AI doesn't deliver, one analyst notes, "there is going to be a large correction."
AI spending hits $1 trillion. Everyone's talking about the tech side.
Here's what they're missing: It's creating the biggest construction boom since the interstate highway system.
Real talk: I just drove through rural Virginia. Massive data centers everywhere. Local contractors booked solid through 2026.
The ripple effects nobody's tracking:
→ Concrete demand up 40% in data center counties
→ Electrical contractors charging 3x normal rates
→ Small towns are seeing housing shortages from the influx of construction workers
Plot twist: The electrician installing your office automation setup might be making more than the AI engineer who designed it.
This isn't just tech disruption. Its infrastructure transformation his happening in real time.
🤖 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬… 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐭.
Earlier this year, some leaders genuinely believed generative AI could replace entire software engineering teams. But the data tells another story.
‼️ MIT’s latest report:
- 95% of generative AI pilots show no measurable ROI
- Only 5% deliver results
And it’s not just MIT sounding the alarm.
On August 13, 2025, The New York Times published “𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘈.𝘐. 𝘐𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘴 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘢𝘺 𝘖𝘧𝘧” by Steve Lohr
Key Takeaways:
• Corporate spending on AI is surging - billions poured into models, automation tools, and infrastructure
• Executives admit minimal bottom-line impact. The promised efficiency gains haven’t materialized at scale
• There’s a growing disconnect between AI hype and actual business value, especially in retail, manufacturing, and logistics
• Misaligned expectations, lack of integration, and insufficient training are blocking ROI
In other words, tech sector hiring slowed just as AI budgets exploded, because executives bet on machines replacing people.
But the stats are in, and they don’t reflect that sentiment.
The real question for tech leaders now: how do we move beyond hype, bridge the integration gap, and make AI tools do the heavy lifting- alongside your teams, not instead of them?
👉 If you’re in the tech sector, I’d love to hear: where have you actually seen generative AI create impact that goes beyond the hype?