Google is investing $50 million to train trade workers across 20+ states and $1.5 billion to expand its Alabama data center campus. Across the country, Microsoft is bringing a 2GW data center to Pecos, Texas, AWS is pouring $10 billion into a new Missouri campus, and Elementl Power is planning a 1.5GW nuclear plant in Southeast Ohio. Johnson & Johnson has a $1 billion contact lens facility under construction in Jacksonville, Florida, and China just switched on the world's first wind-powered underwater data center. Let's dive in!

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Google is stepping up its investment in the American skilled trades workforce. Through a $50 million commitment from Google.org, the company plans to help prepare more than 300,000 workers across more than 20 states for high-demand careers in construction, electrical work, plumbing, pipefitting, welding, and sheet metal.

The funding will flow directly to 14 labor unions and four trade and contractor associations, including the electrical training ALLIANCE, the United Association's International Training Fund, TradesFutures, and the International Training Institute for the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Industry.

Each organization will use the funding to modernize training, expand apprenticeships, and integrate AI tools into their programs.

Google frames this as a public-private model, built to scale alongside industry, government, and civil society to close the skilled trades workforce gap.

Since 2022, Google has invested more than $1 billion in training initiatives globally, reaching over 100 million people with digital and AI skills. Today's commitment is the next step in that effort.


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Microsoft is building one of the largest single capacity additions in its history. The company announced a new data center campus in Pecos, Texas, expanding global capacity by approximately 2 gigawatts over five to seven years.

At peak, the project will support over 6,000 construction jobs, plus hundreds of permanent roles once operational.

Microsoft will fund its own energy infrastructure through a behind-the-meter natural gas facility independent of the public grid. The campus will use closed loop cooling systems requiring minimal water after the initial charge.

Microsoft is borrowing from its San Antonio model for community investment, where workforce programs have created more than 1,100 jobs and engaged 20,000 Texans in digital skilling.

Reeves County Judge Leo Hung welcomed the project, saying it will create new opportunities for local businesses and reinforce Pecos as a place where forward-looking companies can thrive.

Google is expanding its Jackson County, Alabama data center campus with a $1.5 billion investment across 2026 and 2027. The facility has operated on a former coal-plant site since 2019 and has already trained over 130,000 Alabamians in digital skills, supported water stewardship in the Paint Rock River Watershed, and generated hundreds of full-time and construction jobs across the region.

Elementl Power is developing a utility-scale nuclear power plant in Meigs County, Southeast Ohio, with a planned capacity of up to 1.5 gigawatts. The project will use GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 small modular reactors, making it among the first SMR projects in the US. Construction is expected to begin in 2030, with completion targeted for 2034.

Johnson & Johnson is investing more than $1 billion in its Jacksonville, Florida Vision operations. The funding covers a new distribution facility and advanced manufacturing and packaging technologies for its ACUVUE contact lens line. Construction is underway with a target completion of 2028, supporting 3,500 local employees and building on more than 40 years in the state.

Amazon is investing $10 billion to build a new data center campus in Montgomery County, Missouri, expected to create 400 direct jobs and thousands of construction roles. Alongside the investment, Amazon is committing over $7 million in community contributions, including $3 million for emergency dispatch services and $1 million for a new community gathering space at the County Fairgrounds.

Saudi Arabia is building King Salman International Stadium in northern Riyadh as the centerpiece of its 2034 FIFA World Cup. Designed by Populous, it will seat over 92,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium in the country and one of the biggest in the world.

The design draws from Saudi Arabia's natural landscape, with each venue conceived as a seed cracking through the earth and emerging as a striking architectural form.

The stadium will host the opening match and final of the 2034 World Cup, then become the permanent home of the Saudi national team.

As of early 2026, the project was still in the pre-qualification stage, with the Ministry of Sport inviting contractors to apply for early construction works. Completion remains targeted for late 2029.

The masterplan also includes an athletics stadium, aquatics center, training fields, and a 9-kilometer sports track linking to King Abdulaziz Park.

China has switched on the world's first underwater data center powered by offshore wind.

Built by a subsidiary of China Communications Construction, it sits off the Shanghai coast in the Lin-gang Special Area and went fully operational in late May 2026.

Rather than freshwater cooling, it uses a copper-pipe heat exchange system with the ocean as a heat sink, cutting electricity use by 22.8%.

Offshore wind farms supply an estimated 95% of the power to run 192 server racks across four levels. The facility operates at 2.3 megawatts with a planned capacity of 24 megawatts, enough to power 20,000 homes.

It needs no freshwater and cuts land use by more than 90% compared to above-ground centers.

Questions remain around durability and the ecological effects of releasing heat into local marine environments. A 500-megawatt follow-up facility is already in the works.