Arizona Electrician Earns $40-Plus an Hour as AI Data Center Boom Expands Trade Jobs
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jul 19
Arizona Electrician Earns $40-Plus an Hour as AI Data Center Boom Expands Trade Jobs
1 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jul 19
Summary
Cody Cole, 25, said he now earns in the high $40s an hour as an electrical field superintendent in Arizona, seven years after entering the trade straight out of high school.
AI-driven data center construction accelerated that rise: Cole has spent the past two years on data center projects, with Corbins sending him to jobs in New Mexico and Texas as demand spreads.
A four-year WECA apprenticeship helped move him from $15 an hour to management, combining 156 classroom hours a year with 8,000 hours of on-the-job training; he graduated salutatorian in 2024.
Cole now oversees 45 workers and says the boom is creating fast advancement and job security for younger tradespeople, including foremen and superintendents in their early 20s.
His account underscores how AI infrastructure spending is opening blue-collar career paths beyond construction, from planning to finance, as data centers multiply across the US.