Amid hot data center market, Skanska grows advanced tech unit

Dive Brief:

• As the high-tech and data center markets remain hot for builders, Skanska USA is expanding its advanced technology division, the firm announced Monday.
• Skanska Advanced Technology will now combine the contractor’s mission-critical infrastructure capabilities — i.e., its data center construction team — with its semiconductor delivery group, according to the release. The move will help Skanska meet rising demand across both sectors and offer clients a one-stop shop with national reach, the firm said.
• Skanska will leverage its more than 285 dedicated advanced technology, high-tech manufacturing and data center professionals to create mobile groups of subject matter experts. The groups, according to the builder, will give local teams technical expertise and capacity for projects within and beyond Skanska’s current geographic footprint.

Dive Insight:

Going forward, SAT will serve as a centralized hub for operational oversight, commercial management and resource deployment for the builder, per the announcement.

Skanska, which established SAT in February, pegged its expansion to rapid growth in the data center and advanced manufacturing markets, according to the release. The firm cited estimates of compound annual growth rates of 10.2% for the data center market through 2030 and 3.86% for semiconductor cleanroom construction through 2034. 

To keep up with demand for artificial intelligence workloads, edge computing and advanced semiconductor production, Skanska said, owners are shifting toward modular and prefabricated construction techniques. That translates into deploying skid-mounted mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, precast concrete shells and plug-and-play electrical rooms, Skanska said.

Not only can that streamline timelines and reduce on-site labor for these builds, which often sprawl over the equivalent of multiple football fields, it also means designs can be repeated over different geographies and locations, per the firm. 

Both Anita Nelson, executive officer for SAT and Skanska Integrated Solutions and Katie Coulson, executive vice president and general manager, will lead the segment, per the firm. Nelson was previously chief strategy officer for Skanska USA.

“As these industries move toward modularity, sustainability and AI-ready infrastructure, our unique mix of experience, innovation and customer-centric execution ensures we’re doing more than keeping pace—we’re setting the standard,” Coulson said in the news release.

Skanska isn’t the only firm ramping up its preparations for the advanced tech market. In January, PCL Construction established its Manufacturing Center of Excellence in response to reshoring across the U.S. and Canada, and picked Tyler Kautz, a company veteran, to lead its data center arm in July.

However, there are signs of turmoil on the horizon. As builders wait to see whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting on Wednesday, input prices continue to give the industry headaches as costs rose 0.2% in August. In particular, copper wire and cable prices — data center construction mainstays — have leapt 13.8% over the past 12 months.