New Clayco CEO Steers Into Data Center Boom

The rising demand for generative AI technologies has propelled Chicago-based construction and development giant Clayco into a period of rapid growth within the data center sector.

The company is now led by newly appointed CEO Anthony Johnson, who took the helm this month after five years as president of the firm’s industrial business unit, Crain’s reported. His elevation comes as the firm revealed revenue from data center projects surged to $3.6 billion last year, a figure that now represents half of its total revenue.

To better serve this expanding market, Clayco has launched a specialized division called Clayco Compute, which will oversee its data center projects under the leadership of Ryan McGuire.

The firm currently has 57 active data center projects nationwide, including high-profile developments such as the Microsoft data center campus in Elk Grove Village and the massive, highly anticipated Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park on Chicago’s South Side.

Data centers have become a cornerstone of Clayco’s business as generative AI systems like ChatGPT and Google Gemini drive demand for computing power.

These systems require infrastructure that is significantly more resource-intensive than traditional cloud applications, contributing to a market expected to double within five to seven years, according to Raul Saavedra, who leads Colliers’ data center advisory business in the Americas.

Industry growth has accelerated to between 10 and 20 percent annually, a sharp increase compared to the 5 percent growth seen five years ago.

Clayco’s overall revenue reached $7.5 billion last year, a 29 percent increase, even as the broader commercial construction market faced challenges due to higher interest rates. The firm is among Chicago’s largest privately held companies, and its client base includes approximately 80 percent of hyperscale users, organizations with the highest demand for data center capacity.

However, challenges such as securing sufficient equipment, power, and skilled labor remain pressing concerns, especially in remote areas where many data centers are being constructed.

Other data center projects in Chicagoland include Stream Data Center’s 226,000-square-foot facility in Northlake and Aligned Data Centers’ 1 million square foot facility in Elk Grove Village. Additionally, Compass Datacenters is redeveloping the former Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates into a tech storage project.

— Andrew Terrell