Historic Economic Shift: U.S. Data Center Expenditure Surpasses Residential Investment

The United States economy has reached a historic turning point: for the first time on record, spending on data centers and information-processing hardware has surpassed residential investment. According to Fortune’s analysis of Commerce Department data, inflation-adjusted spending on data centers and computing equipment hit $752 billion in the second quarter of 2026 — edging past the $748 billion spent on residential investment. This seismic shift marks the end of an era in which housing, not hardware, drove American economic growth.

The surge is being driven by a frenzied race among Big Tech hyperscalers to build out AI infrastructure. Information-processing spending is up 51% from its recent baseline, while residential investment sits 18% below its early 2021 peak, weighed down by 30-year mortgage rates hovering near 7%.

• S&P Global projects that capital expenditures from Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, and SpaceX will exceed $1.3 trillion by 2027, up from a projected $870 billion in 2026.
• However, S&P warns the industry’s capex is growing faster than revenue, raising risks of overcapacity if AI demand doesn’t materialize as expected.
• A recent NBC News poll also found that 64% of registered voters would be less likely to support a political candidate who backs new data center construction in their community — signaling a growing public pushback against the AI gold rush.

Source: Fortune — September 20, 2026