10-08-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

The next competitive advantage is infrastructure

The modern economy will not grow without adequate water and other foundational high-tech needs.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

Businesses and policymakers are racing to build an economy centered on AI, and it’s quickly becoming one of the biggest economic bets in history. Billions of dollars are flowing into numerous sectors to support it, and states are competing to attract investment while companies seem to announce major expansions every day.

The U.S. is trying to build the AI economy as quickly as possible, but these ambitions depend on something less visible: infrastructure.

In 2025, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. infrastructure a grade of C, while anticipating a $3.7 trillion infrastructure investment gap between capital flowing for improvements and what is required for infrastructure to be in solid working shape. What we have now is an infrastructure that includes the power grid, water systems, and broadband networks that data centers and AI-driven businesses rely heavily on. These are aging, but also mismatched to the economy nearly everyone is intent on building.

A CHANGE IN INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS

Much of the U.S. power grid, along with water and connectivity systems, was built in the 1950s and 1960s. The planning models behind them assumed a steady........

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