Odd Lots · Thursday, August 27, 2026
Jeffrey Schmid, President of the Kansas City Fed, noted that businesses are experiencing a 'crowding out' phenomenon due to the data center build-out, leading to competition for labor, equipment, and freight capacity. He highlighted that commodities like steel and copper are in demand for data centers, impacting other industries and potentially influencing inflation.
“When you talk to businesses in your district, do you encounter entities that perceive themselves to be as essentially competing with the data center build out? for labor or for equipment or for freight capacity or anything and that sort of real crowding out phenomenon that like do you do you hear that from people you talk to.”
“Every day i mean think about the commodities that it takes that the data center is demanding that that apply to other industries i mean think about the machinery industry steel copper right so so uh i mean lately Not that the AI influences commodities like grains. They've surged the futures market on that.”