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Gen Z keeps being told their chances of landing a job are slim as AI threatens entry-level jobs. But in reality, Nvidia\u2019s CEO Jensen Huang says, there are thousands of jobs for young people, thanks to an accelerating boom in data centers. They just have to be willing to go to trade school.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re an electrician, you\u2019re a plumber, a carpenter\u2014we\u2019re going to need hundreds of thousands of them to build all of these factories,\u201d Huang told Channel 4 News<\/em> in the U.K. in late 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThe skilled craft segment of every economy is going to see a boom. You\u2019ve going to have to be doubling and doubling and doubling every single year.\u201d<\/p>\n And Huang is not just talking about the need\u2014he\u2019s backing it up with cash.\u00a0<\/p>\n The chipmaker announced last year that it was investing $100 billion into OpenAI to help fund the development of data centers based on Nvidia\u2019s AI processors. Industrywide, global capital spending on data centers is projected to hit $7 trillion by 2030, according to McKinsey.<\/p>\n A single 250,000-square-foot data center can employ up to 1,500 construction workers during its build-out\u2014many earning more than $100,000, plus overtime\u2014all without requiring a college degree. Once complete, about 50 full-time workers maintain the facility. But each of those jobs spurs another 3.5 in the surrounding economy.<\/p>\n Huang\u2019s call for more electricians and plumbers aligns with his broader view that the next wave of opportunity lies in the physical side of technology rather than the software. When asked what he would study if he were 20 again, Huang admitted he\u2019d lean toward disciplines rooted in the physical sciences.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the young, 20-year-old Jensen, that\u2019s graduated now, he probably would have chosen\u2026more of the physical sciences than the software sciences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Huang isn\u2019t the only CEO sounding the alarm about a looming shortage of skilled trades.<\/p>\n Earlier in 2025, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he raised concerns with the White House\u2014arguing that deportations of immigrant labor, combined with a lack of interest among young Americans, are creating a perfect storm for data center construction.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve even told members of the Trump team that we\u2019re going to run out of electricians that we need to build out AI data centers,\u201d Fink said at an energy conference in March 2025. \u201cWe just don\u2019t have enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford CEO Jim Farley later echoed those concerns, pointing to the gap between Washington\u2019s reshoring ambitions and the workforce to make it a reality.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the intent is there, but there\u2019s nothing to backfill the ambition,\u201d Farley told Axios. \u201cHow can we reshore all this stuff if we don\u2019t have people to work there?\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. is already short 600,000 factory workers and 500,000 construction workers, according to a 2025 LinkedIn post from Farley.<\/p>\n And while the U.S. Department of Education has made the expansion of skilled trades programs a priority, some Gen Zers are already catching on.<\/p>\n Take Jacob Palmer, a Gen Zer from North Carolina. After graduating from high school, he decided college was not the right fit. Instead, he joined an apprenticeship program at a contracting firm and trained as an electrician.<\/p>\n By 21, he launched his own business\u2014and in 2024, grossed nearly $90,000. In 2025, he hit six figures. Unlike many of his peers facing student debt and uncertain job prospects, he said simply: \u201cI don\u2019t owe anybody anything.\u201d<\/p>\n A version of this story originally published on\u00a0<\/em>Fortune.com<\/em>\u00a0on September 30, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\nTrade jobs are hot right now: Construction workers can earn more than $100K without a college degree<\/h2>\n
CEOs agree: It\u2019s out with the white-collar jobs, in with the blue-collar<\/h2>\n
More on the future of work:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n