IT之家 10 月 1 日消息，当地时间 9 月 29 日，据《财富》杂志报道，现如今，数据中心已然成为 AI 争议中的焦点之一。批评者担心，大规模建设数据中心会给社区带来耗水、用电和噪声等难题。但与此同时，数据中心也催生了庞大的用工需要，其中工艺工种尤其缺人。
谷歌俄亥俄州和印第安纳州数据中心运营区域负责人蒂姆 · 查德威克在博客中写道：“当下全美有数十万个工艺工种岗位空缺，等着有人来填补。高级电工、管道安装领班、项目经理都在其中，这些职业需要增长快，也能给出长期稳定的收入。”
仲量联行一份报告援引美国教育部估算称，到 2030 年，美国约有 210 万个工艺工种岗位可能招不到人。对劳动者来说，这也意味着越来越多职业道路无需四年制大学学历，借助职业工艺培训、学徒制和在岗实践，同样可以掌握专业技能并进入有关行业。
随着数千座数据中心陆续进入规划，用工紧张预计进一步加剧。麦肯锡预计，为跟上算力需要的增长，到 2030 年，全球数据中心需要投入 6.7 万亿美元（IT之家注：现汇率约合 45 万亿元人民币）。
AI 基础设施建设热潮带来的就业机会，也引起了多位科技行业高管的关注。
一向反对“AI 末日论”的英伟达 CEO 黄仁勋认为，世界正站在“人类历史上规模最大的基础设施建设潮”前夜，这轮建设会创造“大量就业岗位”。
黄仁勋 2025 年接受英国第四频道新闻采访时说：“每个经济体的工艺工种都会迎来一轮繁荣。每年都得翻倍、翻倍、再翻倍。”
通用汽车 CEO 玛丽 · 博拉同样认为，美国长期把工艺工种看得不如白领职业，已经形成一个“社会难题”。“笔者确实需要让高中生明白，这是一条格外好的职业道路。坦率地说，与一些其他职业相比，它受到 AI 冲击的风险或许还更低。”
她还称，工艺人员年收入可以达到 8 万至 9 万美元（现汇率约合 53.7 万至 60.5 万元人民币），“如果工作时间更长，收入甚至还可能更高”。
即使多位知名 CEO 都看好工艺工种的就业需要，怎样吸引足够多的人进入这些行业仍然是个难题。
几十年来，美国教育体系和劳动力市面更强调高中毕业后进入四年制大学，职业教育和工艺人员培训得到的投入相对不足，甚至长期带有负面标签。结果是许多工艺工种面临人员老龄化，却又招不到足够多的新人接班，也难以培养出满足需要的新员工。
工作条件本身也降低了这些岗位的吸引力。工艺工种往往对体力要求高、工时长，还可能要在严寒或酷热天气下开展户外作业。建筑业又以项目制为主，一个项目结束后，工人往往要转去下一个工地，甚至需要跨州乃至横跨美国流动。
对数据中心而言，这个难题更加突出。单个数据中心在建设阶段可以创造数百甚至数千个岗位，但建成投用后，负责日常运维的人员会迅速减少到几十人。
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IT Home News, October 1. According to Fortune magazine on September 29 local time, data centers have now become one of the focal points in the AI debate. Critics worry that large-scale data center construction will bring problems such as water consumption, electricity use, and noise to communities. But at the same time, data centers have also generated huge labor demand, with skilled trades being especially short of workers.
Tim Chadwick, Google's regional head of data center operations in Ohio and Indiana, wrote in a blog: "There are hundreds of thousands of skilled trade positions open across the country right now, waiting for people to fill them. Senior electricians, plumbing foremen, and project managers are among them. These occupations are in high demand and can offer long-term stable income."
A JLL report, citing U.S. Department of Education estimates, said that by 2030, about 2.1 million skilled trade positions in the United States may go unfilled. For workers, this also means that more and more career paths no longer require a four-year college degree; through vocational trade training, apprenticeships, and on-the-job practice, they can also acquire professional skills and enter related industries.
As thousands of data centers enter planning, the labor shortage is expected to intensify further. McKinsey estimates that to keep up with the growth in computing power demand, global data centers will need $6.7 trillion in investment by 2030 (IT Home note: approximately 45 trillion yuan at current exchange rates).
The employment opportunities brought by the AI infrastructure boom have also attracted the attention of several tech industry executives.
Jensen Huang, NVIDIA CEO who has always opposed the "AI doomsday" narrative, believes the world is standing on the eve of "the largest infrastructure build-out in human history," and this round of construction will create "a huge number of jobs."
In a 2025 interview with Channel 4 News in the UK, Huang said: "Every economy is going to have a boom in the trades. Every single year we've got to double, double, double."
General Motors CEO Mary Barra similarly believes that America's long-standing tendency to value skilled trades less than white-collar careers has become a "social problem." "We really need to make high schoolers understand that this is a really good career path. Frankly, it may have a lower risk of being disrupted by AI than some other occupations."
She also said that skilled trades workers can earn $80,000 to $90,000 a year (approximately 537,000 to 605,000 yuan at current exchange rates), "and if they work longer hours, their income could be even higher."
Even though many prominent CEOs are optimistic about the employment demand for skilled trades, how to attract enough people into these industries remains a challenge.
For decades, the U.S. education system and labor market have emphasized entering four-year universities after high school, while vocational education and skilled trades training have received relatively insufficient investment and have long been stigmatized. As a result, many skilled trades are facing an aging workforce, unable to recruit enough new people to take over, and struggling to cultivate new employees who meet the demand.
Working conditions themselves also make these positions less attractive. Skilled trades often require high physical exertion, long working hours, and may involve outdoor work in extreme cold or heat. The construction industry is also project-based; after one project ends, workers often have to move to the next site, sometimes across state lines or even across the United States.
For data centers, this challenge is even more pronounced. A single data center can create hundreds or even thousands of jobs during the construction phase, but once built and operational, the staff responsible for daily operations and maintenance quickly drops to a few dozen.
