Summary
- PwC projects $3.2tn of cumulative data centre construction expenditure through 2050, distinct from total AI infrastructure capital expenditure.
- Its survey of 377 engineering and construction executives identifies increasing revenue expectations from data centres, utilities, and integrated infrastructure programmes.
- Labour shortages, specialist equipment availability, and project delivery capacity remain significant obstacles to converting investment into completed facilities.
Data centre development is expected to generate approximately US$3.2tn in construction expenditure through 2050, according to new research from PwC, as engineering and construction businesses increase their exposure to digital, energy, and other infrastructure projects.
The consultancy’s 2026 Global Engineering and Construction Sector Outlook draws on responses from 377 executives worldwide and examines how the sector expects its work, investment priorities, and delivery requirements to change over the next five years.
Data centres recorded the largest relative increase of any asset class in the proportion of executives expecting to earn revenue from related work, rising by approximately 20% over the period examined. Respondents also expect data centres’ share of their companies’ total revenue to increase by an average of 26%.
These figures measure different aspects of anticipated market growth. The first concerns the proportion of businesses expecting to participate in data centre projects, while the second describes the expected change in data centres’ contribution to their revenue.
The $3.2tn forecast represents cumulative construction expenditure through 2050. It is separate from PwC’s wider projection of $31.6tn in global data centre capital expenditure over the same period, which includes computing hardware and other infrastructure investment.
The construction outlook also identifies growing opportunities in the infrastructure surrounding large computing facilities. Power, utilities, and electricity grid projects are expected to increase their contribution to engineering and construction revenue by approximately 11% over the next five years.
Respondents anticipate further growth from renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen, carbon capture, and advanced manufacturing. These markets involve different assets but can share engineering requirements, specialist suppliers, and constraints on construction capacity.
At the same time, engineering and construction companies expect a significant shift away from some established building markets. Some 42% of surveyed executives intend to reduce or exit residential, commercial, and institutional building construction, while 51% expect to enter or expand their presence in other infrastructure markets.
Nearly all respondents, 91%, anticipate a change of at least five percentage points in the share of revenue generated by particular asset classes or end markets. Of those surveyed, 29% expect shifts of 20 percentage points or more.
These are forecasts of companies’ business mix rather than confirmed future contracts. The extent to which they are realised will depend on investment decisions, financing availability, and the practical capacity of the construction sector to deliver increasingly complex projects.
Speed and technical capacity constrain construction
Data centre construction combines building work with extensive electrical and mechanical installation. Developers must coordinate electricity connections, power distribution, cooling systems, backup generation, communications infrastructure, and the equipment required to operate the completed facility.
Delays to one element can affect the wider construction programme. A building may be structurally complete while awaiting electrical equipment, cooling plant, or an energised network connection before testing and commissioning can proceed.
PwC’s survey indicates that customers are placing increasing emphasis on the pace of delivery. Some 43% of respondents identified speed among the attributes expected to matter most over the next five years, compared with 40% citing schedule and budget certainty.
Approximately half of executives also identified supply chain and long-lead equipment difficulties or problems securing delivery capacity as concerns. These constraints can affect projects even where financing has been arranged and underlying demand is strong.
High-voltage transformers, electrical distribution equipment, cooling systems, and other specialist components must be procured in coordination with building works. Their manufacturing and installation schedules can influence when a data centre is capable of entering operation.
Labour availability presents another constraint. Roughly two-thirds of surveyed executives cited talent shortages and skills gaps as barriers to growth.
Large infrastructure programmes require appropriately qualified engineers, electrical installation specialists, mechanical contractors, commissioning teams, and personnel capable of supervising complex work. A shortage of these skills can affect both the amount of work that contractors accept and the time needed to complete it.
PwC’s findings suggest that contractors increasingly expect to use advanced technology to support project delivery. The median proportion of respondents reporting extensive use of AI and other advanced technology across the construction value chain is expected to rise from 52% to 69% over five years.
Among companies identified by PwC as the strongest-performing fifth of the sample, the corresponding figures rise from 62% to 81%.
Half of the executives surveyed ranked AI applications in design, engineering, estimating, and bidding among the three technologies most important to their strategic objectives. These uses primarily support planning and knowledge-intensive activities rather than replacing the physical work of constructing facilities.
Contractors seek integrated infrastructure programmes
The research also identifies growing demand for contractors capable of coordinating several types of infrastructure within one development programme. Some 52% of respondents ranked expansion into integrated infrastructure programmes among their three leading priorities for capturing growth.
Such programmes may combine data centres with energy, water, transport, and industrial infrastructure. Their delivery requires coordination between designers, utilities, contractors, equipment suppliers, investors, and operators, often across different contractual arrangements.
Daryl Walcroft, Global Engineering and Construction Leader at PwC US, said:
“There’s more work coming than most E&C firms can realistically take on. As projects increasingly link together power, digital, transport, and industrial assets, winning that work won’t come down to any one firm’s strengths alone. It will come down to how well a firm brings together the right partners, technology, and commercial terms so that the whole programme delivers on time and on budget.”
The coordination challenge extends beyond initial construction. Electrical and mechanical infrastructure must remain maintainable throughout a facility’s operating life, while changes to computing equipment can require subsequent upgrades to power and cooling systems.
Some 44% of respondents ranked expansion into lifecycle services among their leading strategic priorities. However, only 12% identified operations, maintenance, and lifecycle services among the areas of the value chain expected to receive the largest percentage increases in investment.
This difference suggests that companies intend to expand beyond initial construction even though the largest near-term investment increases are expected elsewhere.
Regional forecasts show uneven investment growth
PwC expects the Gulf Cooperation Council region to record the strongest relative increase in annual infrastructure expenditure, rising by 75% from approximately $200bn in 2024 to $349bn in 2050.
The share of surveyed executives identifying the GCC as one of their largest revenue opportunities increases from 38% today to 47% over the next five years.
Asia Pacific remains the largest region for infrastructure investment overall. PwC forecasts annual expenditure rising from $2.3tn in 2024 to $3.6tn by 2050, with the region accounting for more than half of projected global investment.
Western Europe’s relative position is more subdued. The proportion of respondents expecting it to represent a significant revenue market falls from 27% to 23% over five years.
That change reflects the distribution of executives’ expected opportunities rather than a forecast that European data centre construction expenditure will necessarily decline in absolute terms.
European projects continue to depend on electricity network capacity, planning approvals, environmental requirements, and the availability of specialist contractors. These factors can influence the pace of construction independently of demand for additional computing infrastructure.
The outlook identifies substantial long-term opportunities for engineering and construction businesses, but expenditure forecasts should not be confused with funded projects or facilities already under construction. The sector’s capacity to deliver the projected investment will depend on securing skilled workers, critical equipment, electricity infrastructure, and commercial arrangements that remain viable throughout increasingly complex construction programmes.
