Eleven of the 16 nonresidential construction categories recorded monthly increases. Private nonresidential spending climbed 1 percent, while public nonresidential spending increased 0.2 percent.

The standout remains data centers.

“Nonresidential construction spending increased for the fifth consecutive month in August as data center investment accelerates,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Frankly, it’s becoming difficult to contextualize the size and speed of this boom.”

According to Basu, data center construction spending jumped another 7.5 percent in August and is now more than 73 percent higher than a year ago. Growth has been especially pronounced during the past four months, with spending increasing at a 149 percent annualized pace since March.

The numbers reinforce the scale of the data center construction boom and its growing importance to contractors working across the commercial building sector. For wall and ceiling contractors, these projects can generate demand for cold-formed steel framing, drywall and fire-rated assemblies, insulation, acoustical systems and other interior and building envelope work.

Other construction categories also showed improvement in August. Manufacturing construction spending increased month over month for the first time since January, while several publicly funded categories continued to post moderate growth.

Still, ABC expects much of the industry's near-term momentum to remain concentrated in data centers and power-related construction.

“Despite this broad improvement, momentum will likely remain confined to the data center and power categories in the months to come,” Basu said.

Contractors also continue to face cost pressures. ABC said material and labor cost escalation has reemerged during the second half of 2026, while higher Treasury yields are putting additional pressure on borrowing costs.

ABC contractors nevertheless remain optimistic about future sales, according to the association's Construction Confidence Index. Basu cautioned, however, that an increasing share of those opportunities could be concentrated within a relatively narrow group of construction sectors.

For wall and ceiling contractors, the latest spending figures provide another indication that data centers are moving beyond a specialized construction niche and becoming one of the most significant sources of nonresidential work in the market.