A view of the construction of Microsoft’s new data centre site in Kirkkonummi, Finland, on March 7.Anne Kauranen/Reuters
Data centres are massive buildings filled with equipment for data storage, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. What you won’t find much of inside? People.
“Once they are fully operational, the hyperscale-owned data centres actually don’t employ many staff,” said John Dinsdale, chief analyst at Synergy Research Group, which tracks the technology sector. Typically, a large (or hyperscale, in industry jargon) facility might need only 50 to 150 workers. “There is a lot of software and automation, rather than staff,” he said.
Demand for data centres is booming around the world because of generative AI. Synergy estimates the capacity of hyperscale facilities will nearly triple by 2030. The federal government is trying to boost construction of AI data centres here, too. Bell Canada said last week it would open six facilities in British Columbia, while Telus Corp. plans to convert two of its data centres to handle AI.
But the surge in activity will likely not create an employment boom – at least not directly.
Job creation is a routine part of the pitch from data centre operators when presenting plans to municipalities to host these facilities, and the lasting economic benefits are an important consideration. Data centres can occupy large swaths of land and draw substantial quantities of electricity and water, all of which could be used for other purposes.
Microsoft, for example, operates two data centre regions in Canada that employ 51 people directly. The company is expanding its footprint in Quebec and plans to employ 225 full-time employees and contractors at its data centres by the end of next year. eStruxture Data Centers, meanwhile, is building a facility in Calgary that will employ 38 people when finished.
Most of the job creation tied to data centres happens during the construction phase, and a large facility might require more than 1,000 people. Electricians, engineers, specialists in cooling systems and other workers often travel to these sites and stay for long stretches of time, which has spillover benefits.
The chief executive of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts said on a conference call this year that dozens of its properties are located near data centre construction sites, and those hotels outperformed others in its portfolio and led to an uptick in revenue.
Data centres require maintenance, too. Todd Coleman, CEO of eStruxture, said the company’s Calgary facility “will continue to drive economic activity long after the ribbon is cut” through partnerships with local suppliers, manufacturers and others.
Amazon Web Services estimates its own facility in Calgary, which opened in 2023, supports the equivalent of 1,300 full-time jobs in Alberta. (The company does not provide direct employment figures.)
Such calculations include indirect and induced jobs, meaning those tied to household spending, such as in retail and hospitality. These figures are often highly inflated, said Nathan Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, who researches economic development strategies. “Unlike many industries, like automobile manufacturing, there isn’t a clear case for suppliers locating near data centres,” he said. “They don’t really need much of an ecosystem around the facility.”
In Canada, Alberta is hoping to be the epicentre for new data centre construction, in part because of its ample supply of natural gas for power generation.
Some operators have ambitious plans. Beacon AI Centers is looking to build six complexes outside of Edmonton and Calgary in the next couple of years. The company has told some of the towns where it intends to operate that each of its facilities will create more than 300 “highly-skilled” roles once up and running, according to presentations available online.
Josh Schertzer, Beacon’s newly appointed CEO, said in an interview the company is projecting between 200 and 300 people per site, and that each site will consist of multiple data centre buildings. “Those are very conservative estimates,” said Mr. Schertzer, who was previously the chief technology officer for enterprise at private equity firm Blackstone Inc.
Not all data centre jobs require high-tech expertise. Some roles are security guards, admin staff and general building maintenance. Inside, equipment often fails, requiring workers to diagnose, troubleshoot and replace malfunctioning parts. But some companies have sophisticated models to predict equipment failure, so that workers are only needed to swap out parts, for which they generally receive less training and lower wages.
“Operators have both types of jobs as well, freeing up their skilled workers to diagnose more problems while lower-skilled workers do the swapping,” said Ryan Grant, an assistant professor at Queen’s University with expertise in supercomputing facilities.
In the U.S., some of the big tech companies tend to rely on short-term contract labour in their data centres. “It’s not sustainable for the people doing the work,” said Shannon Wait, a former data centre technician and now a senior organizer at the Alphabet Workers Union, which represents some employees and contractors at the tech giant. “This is work that’s not going anywhere, but companies treat it as temporary,” she said.
The economic benefits of data centres tend to be more indirect. Companies use the computing horsepower at these facilities for new products and services, while researchers can harness it for scientific breakthroughs.
Beacon also says that its data centres will bring other companies to the regions in which it operates. “The presence of an AI data center hub will help attract other tech companies and startups to the area, fostering a tech ecosystem and further innovation,” according to one of its presentations.
That doesn’t happen automatically, however. Virginia is home to a large number of data centres, but the state is hardly a tech powerhouse on par with Silicon Valley. A host of factors play into where companies choose to locate, including access to talent and labour costs.
“Virginia also didn’t make the same push that the government of Alberta and the people of Alberta are making,” Mr. Schertzer said. “There’s a broader desire to draw more than just digital infrastructure.”