Amazon and Microsoft Can Buy GPUs. But U.S. Construction Is Short 439,000 Workers

The AI buildout has an increasingly low-tech bottleneck: people. Reuters Breakingviews reported on September 14 that the U.S. construction industry faces a shortfall of roughly 439,000 workers as data centers compete with housing, transport and industrial projects for skilled labor. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) can finance multibillion-dollar AI campuses and secure GPUs. Neither can conjure electricians, welders and specialized contractors on demand. Balance sheets solve the money problem, not the scheduling problem For Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), purchasing power is the advantage. AWS can sign long-term equipment and construction contracts, pay for scarce labor and spread infrastructure across regions.