Clayco’s Bob Clark Tells Forbes There’s No AI Bubble
Date Posted: October 1, 2026
Posted In: Discussion, Environment/Sustainability, Organizations, People, What we are thinking about,
From Forbes: On a bright August morning, Bob Clark, the founder of construction giant Clayco, stops by the new $850 million, 19-acre Obama Presidential Center, which he helped build, in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago.
“Quantum Shore”: Challenging and Expensive
After a quick checkup on the “Obamalisk,” as he fondly calls the complex’s central eight-story spire of granite, glass and concrete, he gives a speedy hello to former White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, who is now CEO of the Obama Foundation. Then he’s off, hopping in the back of a white Escalade and speeding down Lake Shore Drive to another of his projects, which could arguably be of even greater importance to Chicago and the world.
Situated on a 440-acre Lake Michigan site that used to be a U.S. Steel factory, “Quantum Shore” will be one of the largest quantum computing campuses in the country when it opens at the end of 2027. Tenants include IBM and Palo Alto, California–based PsiQuantum, which plans to build a million-qubit quantum computer here. Such a machine would be unimaginably powerful, able to crack the usual types of encryption that keep most of the world’s computers (and bank accounts) secure. It could even someday speed up AI learning by dramatically reducing training time for certain complex deep-learning architectures.
Quantum Shore is a challenging—and expensive—place to build. The first 128-acre phase is being developed by Clark’s real estate development subsidiary CRG and the Midwest office of real estate giant Related Companies. It will cost some $12 billion, $500 million of which is being ponied up by the state of Illinois. Because quantum bits, or “qubits,” are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions, the structure will feature a cryogenic plant that will feed supercooled liquid helium and nitrogen to the computers. “The only way they can stabilize the chip is by being cooler than outer space,” Clark says as 550-ton cranes rumble past. Marveling at the complexity of the project, he recalls when PsiQuantum’s CEO told him he was going to design a building that would “change everything.”
Started Building Data Centers in 1980s
It’s fitting that Clark, 67, is leading work on this next-gen project. He has been building data centers since the 1980s and completed 16 of them last year. He has another 77 in the works across 13 states. Data center construction is expected to account for 75% of Clayco’s nearly $12 billion in 2026 revenue, helping boost revenue by 43% over 2025. “I’ve been in the data center business for most of my career, but never would’ve imagined what’s happening today,” he says.
When Clark got his start four decades ago, a data center was simply a couple of computer rooms added to the back of a bank. Now Clayco, which is based in Chicago, is erecting what amount to self-contained (and mostly human- free) billion-dollar cities housing 100,000 or more of the world’s most advanced GPUs for clients including Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle. To do it efficiently, at scale, Clayco owns and operates its own architecture, concrete, procurement and logistics companies. It’s a machine optimized to feed AI’s insatiable machines.
U.S. spending on data center construction has more than tripled since 2023 to an expected $75 billion this year, per Census Bureau data. And that’s excluding the cost of buying the actual computers, which can amount to 40% of the total project cost. Jeff Blau—CEO of Related and Clark’s partner on Quantum Shore, as well as a $1.2 billion center for CoreWeave in Cheyenne, Wyoming—says data center demand plus high interest rates have crowded out many other big construction projects. “This is unprecedented. We’ve never had something with such strong demand and such scale at the same time,” says Blau, whose Related Digital has $55 billion worth of data center development underway. That’s good for the construction companies.
Close to 1,300 data centers are already up and running across the country. These concrete-and-steel beehives guzzle around 70 million gallons of water each day and require a constant 62 gigawatts of power to function. That is an insane amount of electricity. New York City, by comparison, draws six gigawatts on average. Another 2,142 centers are planned or in the works, according to infrastructure intelligence firm Cleanview.
Bob Clark Joins Forbes 400
One byproduct of the AI boom is how wealthy it has made Clark. His net worth has quadrupled in the past three years to $7 billion, enough for him to debut on The Forbes 400 this year at No. 245. Another byproduct: surging opposition. A recent survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 61% of Americans oppose building data centers in their communities, up from 49% just four months ago. According to Data Center Watch, $18 billion worth of projects have been blocked, and an additional $46 billion of construction has been delayed.
“No Warning Signs On Horizon”
Clark is unfazed by the anger. He likes to stay focused on results. “We don’t see any warning signs on the horizon,” he says, pointing out that this is not like the 2000 dot-com bubble, inflated on hot air and hype. Today’s hyperscalers are the best-capitalized companies in the world. “I’m not worried about them paying my bill.”