Michael Christodoulides
For our Data Centres team, the question now isn’t whether growth will continue into 2026, but how the next phase will be managed - and who has the skills to deliver it.
2025: A Year That Reshaped Digital Infrastructure
2025 has seen unprecedented investment in data centre capacity and the United States has remained the global centre of construction, with Northern Virginia, Texas and Oregon continuing to attract large scale builds due to power, cooling conditions and connectivity. Hyperscalers have set the pace - AWS, Google and Microsoft expanded their AI ready campuses and placed sustainability at the heart of their designs.
Google has maintained its position as a leader in renewable energy usage, while Microsoft’s facilities in locations including Phoenix and Chicago have advanced low emission cooling and water saving methods. Meta, Apple and Oracle have followed a similar path, investing heavily in high efficiency builds.
Every major project this year has moved through a clear sequence. Feasibility and site selection. Design. Permitting. Site preparation. Structural works. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing installation. Network integration. Testing and commissioning. These stages reflect the full data centre lifecycle and require teams with deep technical knowledge, from power distribution specialists to commissioning managers and network engineers.
Hyperscalers Drive Construction and Redefine Standards
The hyperscaler presence has continued to influence the entire market. AWS, Azure and Google Cloud have dominated US construction pipelines - their focus on energy efficiency, high performance design and future ready capacity has raised expectations for the whole sector.
This pressure has been visible in Northern Virginia, where land values have surged as hyperscalers chase the last remaining plots with power access and data centre zoning. Amazon recently secured 270 acres in the region for roughly 700 million dollars, a deal that illustrates how tight the market has become and how fierce the competition is for strategic locations.
The Human Factor Behind Critical Infrastructure
As construction expanded across 2025, the shortage of skilled labour became the primary constraint. Research from CBRE highlighted increased build activity and tight vacancy rates across the largest hubs, with availability dropping below three percent in key regions. Many schedules extended due to the limited supply of certified MEP specialists and commissioning professionals.
Hiring managers have adapted by moving towards specialist recruitment partners who understand mission critical environments. By connecting clients with professionals who understand redundancy design, power systems, cooling performance and compliance expectations, agencies with established networks in mechanical, electrical, sustainability and automation fields have become central to successful project delivery.
For professionals, 2025 has been a strong year for long term career growth. Opportunities now extend across sustainability, network automation, power engineering and AI infrastructure support.
Sustainability Becomes Standard Practice
Moving into 2026, sustainability has shifted from a competitive advantage to a baseline requirement. Operators across the US and Europe have adopted liquid cooling, heat reuse strategies and AI based energy modelling. Many new builds are now aligned to regional requirements, including the European Commission’s Energy Efficiency Directive.
These changes have created fresh demand for environmental engineers, compliance specialists and energy analysts - with these professionals ensuring that new facilities meet regulatory expectations, maintain high performance levels and operate within energy and emissions targets.
Data centres delivered this year have been designed with adaptability in mind. As AI workloads grow through 2026, facilities built in 2025 will be expected to scale capacity, maintain efficiency and support next generation compute requirements. This will continue to increase the need for specialist talent across engineering and sustainability.
2026: The Year of Scale, Efficiency and Specialist Talent
Construction pipelines continue to expand. Power constraints across major markets will require new design methods and technical roles will broaden into energy optimisation, security automation and advanced network performance.
Employers who invest early in their hiring strategy will be better positioned to deliver on 2026 projects and specialist recruitment partners with strong and specialised talent benches will play a strategic part in identifying, attracting and securing the people required to deliver complex builds safely and efficiently.
Our dedicated Data Centres team has spent 2025 supporting hyperscalers, design consultancies and construction teams across the full project lifecycle. That experience positions the team to help clients plan confidently for 2026.
For hiring managers, with the right decisions made now this means faster access to proven specialists who can support each stage of a project and for candidates, the year ahead offers clear paths into stable, high value technical roles that support global AI and cloud growth.
Looking Forward to 2026
The projects breaking ground next year will shape the next decade of digital capability - and they will need the people ready to build them!
If you’re planning your 2026 hiring strategy or exploring a move into the expanding data centre market, connect with our dedicated team – with the rapid movement in this sector, Empiric’s mission for 2026 is clear: connect the best technical minds with the projects that will define digital infrastructure for the future - technically, strategically and operationally.
Learn more about our work, view our latest jobs and connect with me here.
