It might feel counterintuitive to talk about growth when so many headlines harp on recession fears, layoffs and stubborn inflation. But look past the gloom and you will see surprising resilience in the U.S. economy. A key reason is a relentless surge in investment tied to artificial intelligence, with data centers, chip manufacturing, and energy infrastructure at the heart of it all.
The U.S. did stumble out of the gate in 2025, with GDP slipping by 0.5 percent in the first quarter. At first glance, that number reinforces all the unease about a pending downturn. Professional forecasters now expect full-year growth to land around 1.4 percent for 2025, a solid showing even if it is a step down from last year’s clip.
That underlying sturdiness is, in large part, thanks to astonishing levels of investment that are flying under the radar. AI is on everyone’s lips these days, but most of what the public sees, clever chatbots, smart search engines and photo-generating apps, is only the tip of the iceberg. The bigger story is the massive build-out happening behind the scenes.
Big tech names are writing multi-billion dollar checks for new data centers and related infrastructure. Alphabet’s Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is putting $25 billion over the next two years into AI-related data centers and infrastructure spanning several states, plus more than $3 billion to overhaul hydroelectric plants in Pennsylvania to power its server farms. Microsoft is expected to top $80 billion in investments for AI-focused data centers by 2025, while Amazon is right in that same ballpark. OpenAI and Oracle’s recent announcement calls for another 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, adding hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure spending.
While all this might sound like an arms race among the tech elite, the investment ripples break far beyond Silicon Valley. The data center boom brings jobs, construction activity and new demand for everything from transformers to cooling systems. Last year alone, total investment in clean energy, new manufacturing, electrification projects and decarbonization efforts reached $277 billion in the U.S., up 13 percent from the previous year. The figure includes money flowing into not just data centers, but the factories that make solar panels, EVs and storage systems to back them up.
Much of this surge can be traced back to recent federal incentives like the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act, which turbocharged both semiconductor and green energy spending. Real investment in the U.S. semiconductor industry is projected at a minimum of $356 billion over six years ending in 2028, a sum that does not even count all the ancillary research and infrastructure spending. Green energy investments are tracking at a similar pace with at least $102 billion earmarked for clean power and supporting manufacturing by 2028.
There are bottlenecks, of course, and not every region benefits equally. Filling highly skilled jobs can be slow. Data center construction is running into challenges securing enough reliable power and suitable land. In fact, the search for affordable, renewable electricity is so intense that some companies are investing in their own energy sources, including purpose-built solar and even nuclear solutions.
Still, the scale here should not be underestimated. According to McKinsey, it may cost upwards of $6.7 trillion worldwide by the end of the decade just to keep up with projected compute demand for AI and cloud. U.S. developers and their suppliers are front and center in this global effort. That explains why the American power sector posted an all-time high in capital investment, estimated at $179 billion in 2024 as it works to reinforce grids and bring new generation online.
If you are waiting for a classic tech bubble burst, this does not fit that script. This is fundamental infrastructure work, building and upgrading the backbone for our increasingly digital, electrified economy. As these investments move from “coming soon” to operational, expect corresponding gains to ripple through payrolls, supply chains and into local tax revenues.
There is plenty of uncertainty ahead. Consumers are cautious, borrowing costs remain elevated, and political winds are always prone to shifting. But the numbers do not lie: artificial intelligence is not only changing how we interact with technology, it is providing one of the quietest lifelines to the broader U.S. economy right now.
