2026 Infrastructure Summit

The world is entering what could be the greatest period of construction in all of human history, investing as much as $85 trillion in infrastructure over the next 15 years. To do this, we need to modernize the old and construct the new simultaneously. The AI era is driving rapid demand for data centers and the energy needed to power them, but that's not all.

Power grids, ports, pipelines. So many were built in the mid 20th century and today they're reaching the end of their useful lives. At the same time, fast-growing cities and emerging economies need a lot of infrastructure, energy, transportation, telecoms, and the world economy is changing so quickly. This means that companies need to rethink their supply chains to create new capacity that's closer to their consumers.

Infrastructure isn't abstract. It's the world around us. The systems that move people, that enable business and that improve everyday life. Investing in infrastructure generates an outsized economic impact by encouraging a wider and freer exchange of goods and people and ideas all around the world. But we can't build this physical capital without human capital.

We need skilled workers to design and construct and maintain these systems. We need electricians, HVAC technicians, welders, carpenters, many others, and lots of them. In the US the Labor Department projects employment in these jobs will grow by more than 5% over the next decade, and this is much faster than the 3% national average.

Jobs and skilled trades offer good wages with low opportunity costs, long-term career progression, and they're resilient against automation and offshoring. But building this workforce takes time. Many trades require multi-year apprenticeships. Governments, companies, schools all need to work together now to modernize and scale apprenticeship programs, to expand recruitment, and to align vocational training with the fast changing needs of the labor market.

This is an opportunity to invest not only in infrastructure, but also in people. The investment opportunities are here, and the question now is whether we can train the workers we need to build the future.