Clayco's Bob Clark says AI data center boom has further to run
Forbes estimated the builder's net worth at about $7 billion, with data centers set to supply roughly 75% of Clayco's nearly $12 billion in 2026 revenue.
By The Carnegie Standard Staff
· 1 min read
Bob Clark, founder of construction firm Clayco, rejected comparisons between the current wave of artificial intelligence data center spending and the dot-com collapse, saying he sees no indication that demand is about to fall, STL.News reported on October 17, 2026, citing a Forbes profile published on September 30, 2026.
Forbes put Clark's fortune at roughly $7 billion, four times its estimate of three years earlier. The magazine reported that Clayco finished 16 data centers in 2025, had 77 more under construction across 13 states, and expected data center work to generate about 75% of projected 2026 revenue of nearly $12 billion.
Clark argued the buyers behind the current build-out, including established cloud operators, are cash-generating corporations rather than unproven startups.
The company has also met local resistance. A development team tied to Clayco real estate arm CRG pulled its conditional-use application in August 2025 for Project Cumulus, an estimated $1 billion, 1.5 million-square-foot project in St. Charles, Missouri. The city later imposed a moratorium on new applications, and planning documents from February 2026 outlined a zoning change barring data centers as a primary use.
This story was first reported by www.stl.news.
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