Kaufman & Company has announced BUILD 2030, a national development initiative that unites its housing, real estate, construction, technology, and AI infrastructure capabilities under a single investment and development strategy. The company, based in Los Angeles, revealed the initiative in September 2026, positioning it as a response to the converging demands of America's next infrastructure cycle.
The core premise of BUILD 2030 is that future infrastructure will not be limited to roads, bridges, and utilities. Instead, it will be defined by two critical needs: housing for people and computing infrastructure to support an AI-driven economy. Kaufman & Company intends to participate in both. "Everyone is talking about the AI infrastructure boom, but infrastructure cannot only be about machines," said Daniel Kaufman, Founder and Principal of Kaufman & Company. "If we're going to build infrastructure for AI, we should be equally serious about building infrastructure for people."
BUILD 2030 will coordinate projects and investment across the Kaufman & Company platform, which includes operating companies in 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 draws on more than 25 years of development experience across the Kaufman platform, representing over $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units developed.
Central to the initiative is what Kaufman calls "infrastructure convergence." Unlike conventional development strategies focused on a single asset class, BUILD 2030 recognizes that housing and AI infrastructure share common requirements: land, power, transportation, entitlement expertise, construction capacity, and capital. "The real estate industry still tends to put everything into separate boxes: multifamily, build-to-rent, affordable housing, data centers, technology," Kaufman said. "We don't see it that way. We see land, infrastructure, housing, technology and capital increasingly colliding. BUILD 2030 is our response to that."
The initiative also emphasizes community impact. Rather than treating data centers as isolated industrial projects, Kaufman & Company plans to explore opportunities where infrastructure 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," Kaufman said. "The better model is to ask what else our investment can unlock for the people who already live there."
Kaufman & Company's existing platform already spans residential and mixed-use development, workforce and affordable housing, build-to-rent communities, hospitality, AI infrastructure, and a venture portfolio developing technology for the real estate industry. BUILD 2030 will serve as the connective strategy across these businesses as the company evaluates its next generation of projects and partnerships. "We've spent 25 years building real estate," Kaufman said. "The next 25 will be about building the infrastructure around it."
For readers and industry observers, BUILD 2030 signals a potential shift in how developers approach large-scale projects. By integrating housing with AI infrastructure, Kaufman & Company may set a precedent for addressing both the national housing shortage and the growing demand for data centers. This convergence could lead to more sustainable communities, where technological investment directly benefits local residents through job creation and improved living options. As AI continues to reshape the economy, such integrated development models may become essential for meeting the dual demands of people and machines.
