Real Estate Spotlight
Source: Economics Group of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.Summary
Data center construction is rising sharply as firms race to build out AI infrastructure. As we wrote in our 2026 Annual Outlook published earlier this week, new AI-related investment has been a major contributor to overall economic growth this year, a trend that seems likely to continue.
The AI build-out still appears to have momentum. This week, the Census Bureau reported that data center project spending hit over $41 billion (annualized and in nominal terms) in August, amounting to a 26% year-to-year gain.