Data center construction and AI infrastructure spending in the United States are on pace to hit approximately $700 billion in 2026, an 81% increase over 2025, making this the largest single-category construction boom in the country. Data center construction starts totaled just $14.9 billion in 2023. By 2025, that figure had exploded to $77.7 billion, a 190% year-over-year increase. To put the scale of 2026 spending in perspective, the entire US Interstate Highway System cost roughly $530 billion in today’s dollars and took decades to build. The data center industry is now spending more than that in a single year.