US data center construction spending rose 57% year on year in July to a record annualized rate of $75 billion, following a 46% increase in June and the largest back-to-back acceleration since mid-2025. Macro investor Raoul Pal said data centers were only about 30% built relative to the pace required by the artificial-intelligence race, arguing that U.S.-China competition and bottlenecks in power and infrastructure could drive an extended capital-spending supercycle. The five largest U.S. hyperscalers are expected to spend more than $800 billion on AI-related capital expenditure in 2026, while global data-center capital expenditure is estimated to exceed $1 trillion. U.S. data center spending has risen $66 billion, or 717%, since the start of 2021, even as other private construction categories declined by $120 billion. Futurum Group analyst Daniel Newman said the buildout was accelerating despite skepticism. Data center-linked shares, including Sterling Infrastructure, Comfort Systems USA and Quanta Services, have posted substantial gains, while Sterling also advanced after its latest close.