World's most valuable company, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has forecasted a boom in jobs of electricians, plumbers, technicians, and builders and predicted that the growth in AI is set to create a massive demand for skilled workers. According to Jensen Huang, the AI-era job markets extend far beyond the boundaries of software and engineering degrees. “AI gives America the opportunity to build again. Electricians, plumbers, iron workers, technicians, builders—this is your time,” Huang said, reports Fortune.
“AI is not just creating a new computing industry, it is creating a new industrial era, he said, addressing Carnegie Mellon University’s class of 2026 during a commencement speech on Sunday.
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AI to turn low-paying jobs to six-figures?
Earlier this year, the Nvidia CEO made similar remarks and predicted an unexpected gold rush in certain types of low-paying jobs at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The tech billionaire declared that the massive infrastructure required to power the AI data centres will transform traditional 'blue-collar' jobs into six-figure careers.
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“First of all, uh this is the largest infrastructure buildout in human history. That's going to that's going to create a lot of jobs. And it's wonderful that the jobs are related to tradecraft. We're going to have plumbers and electricians and construction and steel workers and network technicians and people who install and fit out the equipment and all of these jobs we're going to in the United States. We're seeing quite a significant boom in this area. The salaries have gone up nearly doubled. And so we're talking about six-figure salaries for people who are building uh chip factories or computer factories or AI factories,” he said in conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, emphasising that the path to a high-paying career is changing.
“And we have a great shortage in that and I'm really delighted to see so many people in so many countries really recognizing this important area. You know, everybody should be able to make a great living,” he added.
A boom in AI revolution
Jensen Huang argued that the $7 trillion global investment in building data centers and “AI factories” marks the largest infrastructure buildout in human history. He suggested that the AI revolution will not be limited to software engineers alone, but will also involve large numbers of people working to physically construct and operate these massive facilities.
Huang had said demand for electricians, plumbers and carpenters will rise sharply as the construction of data centres accelerates. “If you’re an electrician, you’re a plumber, a carpenter—we’re going to need hundreds of thousands of them to build all of these factories. The skilled craft segment of every economy is going to see a boom. You’re going to have to be doubling and doubling and doubling every single year,” Huang told Channel 4 News in the UK.
The Nvidia CEO also said he would choose physical sciences over software if he were a student today. “For the young, 20-year-old Jensen, who has graduated now, he probably would have chosen…more of the physical sciences than the software sciences,” he said.
