In the perception battle for AI data centres, tech giants got a blue-collar ally

Building trades unions – long fashioned as the voice of the American worker – are now intertwined with the richest companies in the world as they create America’s artificial intelligence economy.

Unionised workers are employed on a huge number of massive data centre projects and scrambling to recruit new apprentices to feed the explosive demand.

They’ve also become an ally of tech giants and tech-friendly government officials, echoing the talking point that the United States is in a critical national security race with China for AI superiority.