Tech giants spending $700 billion on AI data centers are recruiting military veterans to fill thousands of jobs
Tech giants spending $700 billion on AI data centers are recruiting military veterans to fill thousands of jobs.
For veterans, making the transition to civilian life can be a bumpy one. While they gained on-the-job skills like teamwork and problem-solving, they may have a hard time leveraging those skills after they leave the military.
As of June 2026, the veteran unemployment rate sat at 4.1% (about 292,000 vets). That's slightly higher than the unemployment rate for the civilian population, which sits at 4.0%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor (1)Statistics (1).
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But there's one area where companies can't find enough workers: data centers. And, as AI drives massive data center growth, it's fueling a massive hiring push. For some companies, veterans represent an untapped labor pool.
Tech giants Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are spending nearly $700 billion this year to construct data (2)centers (2). But there aren't enough workers to build or maintain them.
"Ultimately, the real constraint on global tech growth isn't solely related to a shortage of microchips, energy or capital; it is the severe scarcity of the specialized talent required to build it," Sander van't Noordende, CEO of recruitment firm Randstad, told (3)CNBC (3).
There are labor shortages in jobs ranging from specialized engineers and cybersecurity professionals, to electricians, plumbing and HVAC professionals. And there's a growing need for 'new-collar' workers.
New-collar jobs sit at the intersection of white-collar and blue-collar jobs. They require technical proficiency, but not necessarily a four-year academic degree. Rather, skills are learned through training and hands-on learning. And they tend to pay well — often in the six-figures.
"Because these jobs are tied to emerging tech, responsibilities shift more often than in traditional roles," according to Mercer, a global workforce consulting firm (4).
That means skills are quickly evolving. "A worker trained through bootcamps or on-the-job learning can gain relevant experience more quickly than someone in a four-year program," according to Mercer.
And that's an area where veterans have transferable skills: they understand bootcamps and on-the-job training.
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Salute Mission Critical, a global data center services company, has developed a program that trains and hires veterans that have come out of service.
"They already have certain disciplines and skills that we found as transferable," Erich Sanchack, CEO of Salute, told Maria Sara Bartiromo on an episode of Fox Business's Mornings with (5)Maria (5).
Sanchack said most data center service providers recruit within the industry. Salute has taken a different approach by turning to an often-forgotten talent pool: veterans. The company's recruitment, training and deployment practices are also based on the principles of military training and practices.
"We know that they have that team orientation. They have the understanding of what the protocols are and why they're so important," he said. "And then we can hone in on training them."
