State lawmakers and big tech are pushing back against misinformation surrounding data centers. Data centers are already here,” Moore said, as he said that there were already hundreds of existing data centers throughout the country for digital services, not just for AI. We need to double or triple the number of data centers if we're going to lead this revolution in technology,” he said. A day later, the energy department also announced four federal environmental cleanup sites to be used for AI data centers. According to data provided by AI-driven hiring platform Skillit as reported by Fortune, data center construction workers' salaries average around $81,000 a year.