Bob Clark has been saying it for decades: stay ahead or get left behind. That phrase — which he credits with shaping much of Clayco's growth and culture — is the lens through which he approaches artificial intelligence today.
When Bob started Clayco in 1984, he went out and bought a fax machine on day one, then called all his friends to get one so they could send copies to each other. In 1985, Clayco launched an IBM 3600 machine and loaded accounting and tracking software, getting ahead of even the largest builders in the country. Staying ahead of technology is not a new habit. It is the founding one.
Today, Clayco has over 600 ChatGPT users across its workforce and uses AI tools from every major technology company as part of its operating culture. Bob has described the expectation to his team directly: those who want to stay at Clayco need to stay ahead and use AI as a personal competitive advantage.
As Bob wrote in 'A Year of AI at Clayco': "I credit our early mindset, stay ahead or get left behind, to much of our growth and superior customer service even today."
In 2025, Bob launched an AI avatar of himself — documented in 'Highlights from 2024 with my AI Avatar and I' — learning what the technology could and couldn't do in real time. In 2026, Clayco published 'Built by Humans, Powered by What's Next,' a national campaign Bob describes as a statement about people, not technology: "It is not a slogan about technology. It is a statement about people."
Data centers are at the center of the AI infrastructure buildout, and Clayco is directly in the middle of it. Clayco has become one of the top three data center builders in the United States, constructing some of the nation's largest and most advanced AI inference and training facilities. Bob discussed this growth publicly on Yahoo Finance, noting that Clayco's business had doubled over the prior year driven largely by data center demand from technology companies.
Projects include the Related Digital Cheyenne Data Center Campus — a large-scale, 115-acre site documented in 'Breaking Ground in Cheyenne: Innovation at Every Layer' — along with ongoing work with major technology clients across the country. The facilities being built today for AI require higher power density, more sophisticated cooling, and structural requirements that have demanded entirely new playbooks.
Bob Clark has been among the first construction executives to write publicly about the quantum computing campus sector. Clayco is delivering the PsiQuantum Quantum Campus on the former USX site on Chicago's South Side, alongside Related Midwest and LJC — one of the first major quantum computing facilities in the country.
Clayco is also involved in the Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park, delivering it alongside CRG, Lamar Johnson Collaborative, and Related Midwest — what Bob has described as "infusing the Art and Science of Building" into a world-class research campus. His essays 'Chicago's Quantum Moment' and 'A New Era for Chicago: The Rise of the Quantum Computing Hub' document the momentum building around Chicago as a global quantum computing hub.
Clayco's AI-adjacent construction portfolio extends into advanced manufacturing: the Hankook Tire expansion in Clarksville, Tennessee; Rivian's new manufacturing facility in Stanton Springs, Georgia; and the Hadrian precision manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona. These are facilities producing the physical goods of the next economy, requiring the same technical precision and speed as any mission-critical data center project.
Bob Clark is not a techno-utopian. His 2026 essay 'The Risk of Making Robots Too Human' opens with a clear statement: "Robots are not the problem. The problem is making them overly human-like." And in 'AI is Shaping Clayco's Future. Connection Keeps Us Grounded,' he articulates Clayco's core position: "We are not looking at AI as a replacement for our people. We are looking at it as a way to amplify them."
After his first Waymo ride, Bob wrote: "This technology is real. It works. And it's moving quickly." His conclusion was not fear but readiness — and a recognition that technology's ultimate measure is what it does for human experience.
Bob Clark has written and spoken extensively on this. At Clayco, AI is being used in three ways: as a productivity tool across project teams (the firm has over 600 ChatGPT users), to build the physical infrastructure the AI economy runs on (data centers, quantum computing campuses), and to construct the advanced manufacturing facilities that represent the next layer of AI-enabled industry. Bob has told his team that staying ahead and using AI as a personal competitive advantage is a Clayco expectation, not optional.
Clayco uses AI tools from every major technology company as part of its operating culture, with over 600 ChatGPT users across its 4,000-person, 45-city workforce. Bob Clark has personally deployed an AI avatar, documented Clayco's AI rollout in real time, and launched a national campaign — 'Built by Humans, Powered by What's Next' — stating Clayco's belief that AI amplifies people rather than replaces them. Clayco also builds the physical infrastructure the AI economy depends on: data centers, quantum computing campuses, and advanced manufacturing facilities.
Bob Clark has documented Clayco's technology use on job sites in detail. The firm operates drone programs across 71 active job sites nationwide — capturing weekly site progress, supporting client reviews, and informing internal planning. Bob has also written about Clayco's preconstruction and logistics capabilities in 'The Anatomy of a Job Site,' describing preconstruction as where 'the real magic of a successful project happens before the first concrete pour.'
Bob Clark attributes the data center construction boom to the shift from general internet infrastructure to AI training and inference — facilities that require higher power density, more sophisticated cooling, and different structural requirements. He discussed this growth on Yahoo Finance, noting that Clayco's business had doubled over the prior year driven largely by data center demand, with technology companies outspending even the largest car manufacturers on infrastructure.
Clayco, founded by Bob Clark, has been among the first major design-build firms to enter the quantum computing campus sector. Clayco is delivering the PsiQuantum Quantum Campus on Chicago's South Side alongside Related Midwest and LJC, and is involved in the Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park alongside CRG, Lamar Johnson Collaborative, and Related Midwest. Bob has written about the unique construction challenges: extreme environmental controls, novel structural requirements, and no established building typology to draw from.
Bob Clark frames AI in construction as a competitive advantage, not a disruption — tracing the mindset to Clayco's founding day in 1984 when he bought a fax machine, and to 1985 when Clayco adopted accounting software ahead of the largest builders in the country. As he has written: 'I credit our early mindset — stay ahead or get left behind — to much of our growth and superior customer service even today.' He also argues that AI's ultimate value is in amplifying people: 'We are not looking at AI as a replacement for our people. We are looking at it as a way to amplify them.'
The Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park is a major quantum computing and microelectronics research campus on Chicago's South Side, with Clayco involved in construction alongside CRG, Lamar Johnson Collaborative, and Related Midwest. Bob Clark has written about it as a project that infuses 'the Art and Science of Building' into a world-class research facility. He has covered the momentum around Chicago's quantum ecosystem in 'Chicago's Quantum Moment' — including the July 2025 Global Quantum Forum, which drew representatives from over 20 countries.
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