Your next AI career path might start with a helmet, not a laptop.
Meta Inc. on Monday announced it will invest $115 million in a roughly five-week program aimed at fast-tracking careers in the skilled trades as it seeks to build data centers to support its massive AI ambitions.
Called “America’s Workforce Academy,” it is a free initiative that supports participants as they learn and guarantees jobs for all graduates, the tech giant said. It will begin this year in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana and Texas.
Mehta said no prior experience is required and all graduates graduate with validated, industry-standard certifications in areas such as electrical work, mechanical systems and plumbing.
The move comes after Meta announced in April a four-week training program for new fiber technicians scheduled to begin this summer. Mehta said the initiative, called Level-Up, received 35,000 applications in the first seven days.
Meta’s new workforce initiative shows how the AI boom is creating a war for talent who can build and operate the physical infrastructure behind the technology. Competition for electrical engineers, fiber optic technicians and other skilled tradespeople is increasing, even as tech companies are shedding white-collar labor.
“Despite all the rhetoric about automation, AI still relies on a vast human workforce,” said Chris Kaufman, a leadership consultant and co-founder of e-commerce giant StockX. “The future may be more automated, but someone still has to build the data centers, install the fiber and keep the lights on.”
Helmets are in high demand
In 2025, permits were issued for 176 new data centers in 34 states. This is the most new permits issued in a single year since the first permits were issued in 1976, Business Insider previously reported. Meanwhile, the construction industry needs an estimated 349,000 new workers this year to meet demand, according to industry group Associated Builders and Contractors.
Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo wrote on X: “Many Americans face a Catch-22: They need training to get new, high-paying jobs, but they can’t afford to go unpaid to attend training courses.” Meta’s new workforce academy “aims to solve this problem with paid apprenticeships and credentials that lead to good jobs that are actually available.”
The most wanted list of AI-hungry employers also includes talent who can protect these centers. Business Insider previously reported that job listings mentioning “physical security” and “data center” have nearly quadrupled since the beginning of 2020.
It’s unclear how long these new data center jobs Meta is recruiting for will last. Business Insider previously reported that data centers generally do not create large numbers of permanent, full-time jobs in local economies. Researchers at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business found that once large data centers are completed and operational, on-site workforces decrease by an average of 78%.
Meta laid off about 10% of its 78,000 employees last month, citing “continued efforts to run the company more efficiently” and offsetting other investments. Meta has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into its AI ambitions, weaving its technology across apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.
Meta also monitors its own employees’ use of AI. In April, the company installed new software on the computers of its U.S. employees that tracks keystrokes and mouse movements to train AI. The move sparked internal backlash, Business Insider previously reported.