The rapid growth of the artificial intelligence industry is turning trades like plumbing and electrical work into critical specialties for AI development and scaling, according to WIRED.
The AI boom has triggered a wave of new data center construction, dramatically boosting demand for electricians, HVAC technicians, and other skilled tradespeople. Modern data centers depend on complex power supply, cooling, and water treatment systems – all of which require skilled blue-collar workers for installation and maintenance.
“I’m hearing more and more often that electricians are becoming the ‘gold-collar’ workers of the AI era – and there’s some truth to that,” says Alexei Karpunin, partner at 5D Consulting. “The Russian data center market is indeed growing: according to iKS-Consulting, commercial data centers had 81,200 rack spaces at the end of 2024, up from 43,000 in 2019. However, CNews Analytics reports that the rate of new capacity deployment in 2025 fell to one-third of the previous year’s level. The main challenges aren’t related to staffing, but to infrastructure: a lack of available power grid connections and the high cost of project financing. The Moscow Region is facing a power deficit of approximately 4 GW this year, and new high-voltage lines feeding into the capital’s grid won’t be completed until 2030-2032.”
Nevertheless, the expert emphasizes that a shortage of qualified specialists in the energy sector is a reality. According to a joint study by TechExpo and hh.ru, Russian employers in the energy sector posted over 100,000 vacancies in 2025. In St. Petersburg alone, the number of vacancies increased by 76% year-on-year. Electricians account for more than 10% of all industry demand, and their salaries already exceed 160,000 rubles. The reduction of the key interest rate to 15.5% in February 2026 is expected to gradually unfreeze delayed projects – data center operators plan to bring around 10,000 new racks online this year alone, each requiring connection and maintenance.
“Focusing on ‘hyped’ professions is a risky proposition, as history regularly shows. But electricians aren’t part of that hype,” says Alexei Karpunin. “The demand is being driven by several independent trends: data center construction, the broader industrialization of the economy, and infrastructure modernization. The Ministry of Digital Development forecasts that the share of energy consumption by data centers used for AI will increase 2.5-fold by 2030, reaching 2.5 GW. All of that power will require people who know how to connect, distribute, and maintain it. The difference from real hype is that the wires don’t disappear when the next social network goes out of fashion.”