PwC forecasts that US$3.2 trillion will flow into data centre construction through 2050, as engineering and construction businesses prepare for a larger share of their work to involve computing infrastructure and the power, water and transport systems needed to support it.
The projection is contained in PwC’s 2026 Global Engineering and Construction Sector Outlook, based on responses from 377 executives worldwide. It describes anticipated construction expenditure rather than contracts already placed or investment committed to individual projects. The survey also finds that executives expect data centre work to become a larger part of their companies’ revenue over the next five years.
The share of respondents expecting to earn revenue from data centre projects is projected to rise by approximately 20% over five years, the largest relative increase among the asset classes examined. Respondents expect the proportion of their own total revenue attributable to data centres to grow by an average of 26%. Neither result means that data centres will account for 26 percentage points more of every contractor’s sales.
That shift is drawing attention to associated infrastructure. Data centres require electrical connections, cooling plant, water treatment and distribution, standby power and telecommunications links. Large projects may also involve substations and grid reinforcement outside the site boundary, while equipment suppliers need sufficient manufacturing capacity to deliver transformers, switchgear, mechanical plant and other long-lead systems in sequence with the construction programme.
Executives expect the average revenue share attributable to power, utilities and grid infrastructure to increase by about 11% over the next five years. The corresponding anticipated increases are 26% for renewable energy, storage, hydrogen and carbon capture, and 24% for advanced manufacturing. These figures describe surveyed expectations for the composition of business activity, not guaranteed sector-wide growth rates.
Contractors are consequently considering different project portfolios. Some 42% of respondents expect to exit or reduce their participation in residential, commercial and institutional building construction, while 51% expect to expand into or enter other infrastructure markets, including energy and transport. Nine in ten anticipate a change of at least five percentage points in their revenue exposure to particular asset classes or end markets, and 29% expect shifts of 20 percentage points or more.
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.” He described major programmes that combine power, digital, transport and industrial assets, requiring several businesses to coordinate their technical responsibilities and commercial arrangements rather than deliver isolated packages.
The survey points to a geographical redistribution of opportunities. Across the Gulf Cooperation Council, PwC projects that annual infrastructure spending will rise from US$200 billion in 2024 to US$349 billion in 2050, an increase of 75%. The share of executives identifying the region among their largest revenue opportunities increases from 38% today to 47% over the next five years.
Asia Pacific remains the largest projected infrastructure investment market, accounting for more than half of expenditure through 2050. PwC expects annual investment there to rise from US$2.3 trillion in 2024 to US$3.6 trillion in 2050. The proportions identifying South Asia and Southeast Asia as significant opportunities both increase, while the Western European share falls from 27% to 23%; the United States holds at 33%.
Availability of equipment and delivery resources may constrain the pace of expansion. Around half of surveyed executives cite supply chain and long-lead equipment difficulties or limited delivery capacity. A data centre’s building shell can be completed before suitable power connections, cooling equipment or electrical distribution systems are available, making the sequence of design, procurement and commissioning as important as construction activity itself.
Speed is the most frequently selected customer attribute, named by 43% of respondents, ahead of schedule and budget certainty at 40%. Accelerating one construction package offers limited benefit if essential plant is unavailable or another part of the programme cannot be energised. Coordination between design specifications, equipment orders, grid interfaces and installation teams therefore becomes a practical condition of faster delivery.
Technology investment is expected to increase across the value chain. The median proportion of respondents reporting extensive use of AI and advanced technology is projected to rise from 52% today to 69% within five years. Among the highest-performing 20% of businesses in PwC’s survey, the equivalent figures move from 62% to 81%.
Executives primarily identify knowledge-intensive tasks as the immediate applications. Half rank AI for design, engineering, estimating and bidding among the three technologies most important to their objectives. Digital tools can assist with design comparisons, coordination and information handling, but their outputs still require engineering checks and commercial assessment before they are incorporated into a live project.
People remain a constraint alongside machinery. Roughly two-thirds of respondents cite shortages of talent and technical skills as barriers to growth, particularly where projects require specialist expertise across electrical engineering, mechanical installation, digital systems and commissioning. Scaling the pipeline therefore depends on access to capable labour and suppliers as well as customer demand.
More than half, 52%, place expansion into integrated infrastructure programmes among their three principal growth priorities. These programmes bring together systems such as energy, data centres and water supply that may have separate operators, construction contracts and technical approval requirements but must function together when commissioned.
Lifecycle work is attracting interest too: 44% rank expansion into operations, maintenance and related services as a leading strategic action. Yet only 12% identify those services among the parts of the value chain expected to receive the greatest investment growth. The difference leaves a commercial question over how contractors fund the skills, systems and long-term obligations required to maintain increasingly interconnected assets.
The US$3.2 trillion construction projection consequently sits within a larger programme of industrial and utility investment. Whether forecast activity becomes built capacity will depend on project financing, grid and water availability, component manufacture, labour supply and the coordination needed to bring equipment into safe operation.
