Kaufman & Company Launches BUILD 2030 to Converge Housing and AI Infrastructure

Kaufman & Company has launched BUILD 2030, a national development initiative that unites its housing, real estate, construction, technology, and AI infrastructure capabilities under one coordinated investment and development strategy. The company, led by founder and principal Daniel Kaufman, argues that America’s next infrastructure cycle will be defined not only by roads and bridges but by two critical needs: places for people to live and computing infrastructure to support an AI-driven economy. BUILD 2030 will coordinate projects across Kaufman’s existing platform, which includes residential development, build-to-rent, workforce and affordable housing, custom housing, commercial and hospitality development, AI infrastructure, real estate advisory, and venture capital. The strategy leverages more than 25 years of development experience, representing over $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units developed.

Unlike conventional development strategies focused on a single asset class, BUILD 2030 is built around what Kaufman calls “infrastructure convergence.” Housing requires land, power, transportation, entitlement expertise, construction capacity, and capital—many of the same inputs needed for AI infrastructure. Kaufman believes developers who understand both physical and digital infrastructure will have a significant advantage in the coming decade. “The real estate industry still tends to put everything into separate boxes: multifamily, build-to-rent, affordable housing, data centers, technology. We don’t see it that way. We see land, infrastructure, housing, technology and capital increasingly colliding. BUILD 2030 is our response to that,” said Kaufman. The initiative also emphasizes community impact when evaluating future AI infrastructure locations, aiming to avoid isolated data center projects by exploring opportunities where investment can support broader economic development, including workforce housing, community improvements, and local employment.

“We don’t want to be the developer that arrives in a community, consumes power and leaves behind a box. The better model is to ask what else our investment can unlock for the people who already live there,” Kaufman added. BUILD 2030 will serve as the connective strategy across Kaufman’s businesses as the company evaluates its next generation of projects and partnerships. “We’ve spent 25 years building real estate. The next 25 will be about building the infrastructure around it,” Kaufman concluded. The initiative reflects a growing recognition that housing and AI infrastructure are not separate challenges but intertwined components of America’s future prosperity.