Without Data Centers, GDP Growth Was 0.1% in the First Half of 2025, Harvard Economist Says (fortune.com)
- Reference: 0179697038
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/10/07/2012240/without-data-centers-gdp-growth-was-01-in-the-first-half-of-2025-harvard-economist-says
- Source link: https://fortune.com/2025/10/07/data-centers-gdp-growth-zero-first-half-2025-jason-furman-harvard-economist/
Renaissance Macro Research estimated in August that the dollar value contributed to GDP growth by AI data-center buildout had surpassed U.S. consumer spending for the first time. Consumer spending makes up two-thirds of GDP. Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Nvidia poured tens of billions of dollars into building and upgrading data centers.
[1] https://fortune.com/2025/10/07/data-centers-gdp-growth-zero-first-half-2025-jason-furman-harvard-economist/
Why exclude data centers? (Score:2)
Seems fairly arbitrary.
Why not exclude whatever else contributed to growth too, so you can say there was no growth at all?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
One is that data centers are the playground of rich people that add little to the economy, ie, few workers, lots of money. Two, to get a handle of how badly tariffs are, and how bad the MAGA economy really is. Biden was adding jobs, adding value to peoples lives every day. Building out projects that benefit society. MAGAs threw that away and is just concentrating wealth to a few people.
Re: (Score:3)
> Seems fairly arbitrary.
> Why not exclude whatever else contributed to growth too, so you can say there was no growth at all?
While I'm not 100% sure myself, there is some speculation that a lot of datacenters being built today will never actually be used at capacity, and may in fact never be used at all if the AI bubble pops. I think there will be growth in AI at some point, but right now it's fairly unhealthy growth, and doesn't seem long-term sustainable at the rate the tech pushers keep saying. Maybe those datacenters can be utilized in other ways, or will be altered for whatever the next form of automation / AI will be, but I
Because it's completely driven by AI (Score:2)
And it's a massive bubble. In the very near future the winners will shake out and we're going to have a enormous economic collapse.
If we had competent leadership in Washington they would be getting ready for that but well, you know.
Meanwhile the trade war is hammering manufacturing jobs. It turns out that just cranking tariffs doesn't magically create jobs. It costs us jobs because other countries do retaliatory tariffs cutting off our access to their markets. Corn and soybean Farmers might get bail
Re: (Score:2)
> Why not exclude whatever else contributed to growth too, so you can say there was no growth at all?
And what would those other things be that contributed the 0.1% remaining amount of growth?
US depends on bubbles (Score:3)
USA's economy is addicted to bubbles. Without one bubble after another, we wouldn't know what business to be in. We can't manufacturer as extensively as China because we don't have a Xi keeping wages down, we have no fashion sense like France, we don't have Venice-like tourism because GOP scares off visitors (Iraq war era, not just orangeshirts), and we don't have great ruins like Machu Picchu because we tore them down to make casinos.
Our under-taxed plutocrats have giant piles of cash to invest in speculative shit, which often pops, yet we hope a new fad on the block replaces it in time: the Hype Industrial Complex.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem with bubbles is that they need others to believe in them. That may be comming to an end of the US now.
So what? (Score:2)
A job is a job.
Take out the fastest growing sectors.... (Score:2)
... and the economy isn't growing as fast. You need a Harvard degree to see that?
Don't forget... (Score:2)
"Tech giants including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Nvidia poured tens of billions of dollars into building and upgrading data centers."
And buying lobbyists! Don't forget the lobbyists!
Still better than expected (Score:2)
The orange felon must be losing his touch. I would at the very least have expected the GDP to decrease.
So the tech industry is giving back (Score:1)
So what, there are tons of middle class tradesman needed to build and rack these building, in addition to tons of tradesman needed for power expansion. The tech companies finally giving back to society
You're not wrong but... (Score:2)
Those are all temporary jobs with temporary benefit. If you want to see what those datacenters are like in the long term... check out Grok's Memphis facility. Less than a dozen vehicles in the parking lot.
Re: (Score:2)
Thats how constuction works at scale, the builders temporary live on site and move on. Ive never seen a plumber, electrician, hvac etc with no work to do.
Yeah, but they're getting incentives... (Score:2)
They're promising thousands of jobs, when it's literally eight permanent full-time jobs.
Re: (Score:2)
The jobs exist in building the infrastructure for tech, not operating it. Duh.
Re: Yeah, but they're getting incentives... (Score:2)
Endless growth is called cancer.
There is no planet b.
We haven't developed space enough to move industry there.
Do the math, instead of meth
Re: (Score:2)
Electricians who do house level electrical work and those who work on things like data centers or industrial sites/fabs are not the same skill set. The industrial folks need to take engineering drawings and make them work according to code and reality and this requires engineering-level skill and experience to get right without blowing things up and killing people. Running Romex and 240V EV chargers isn't quite the same as working with 30KVA. So those electricians who work on the industrial stuff don't have
Re: (Score:2)
Re: data center construction as blue collar jobs program
Too bad they are not building houses , something we know we need more of.
Re: (Score:1)
> I've never met anyone who wants to live in a house living on the street.
How many have you asked? Why?
> Go rent.
Rent's expensive also; rent prices generally mirror housing prices because they are roughly exchangeable options.
Re: So the tech industry is giving back (Score:2)
We do not need more houses. We need to seize them from those keeping them empty and put people in them.