The robots aren't coming for your job. They're creating new ones you haven't even imagined yet. That's the message from Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, who thinks the future of work looks less like a dystopian takeover and more like a manufacturing renaissance powered by artificial intelligence.

Huang sat down with Joe Rogan recently and made his pitch for why America needs to get back into the business of building things. "We want to re-industrialize the United States. We need to be back in manufacturing," he said. The best part? You don't need a PhD or an Ivy League degree to participate. Manufacturing jobs underpin AI companies like Nvidia, he argued, and they're the foundation for long-term job creation that actually strengthens the economy.

Building the Infrastructure for AI Requires Real Factories

Here's the thing people forget about artificial intelligence: it doesn't run on magic. You need chip facilities, data centers, and supercomputing sites. And you can't build those without the trades that actually construct them. Huang told Rogan that construction workers and electricians remain absolutely central to expanding national AI capacity. No factories, no AI revolution.

He even gave President Donald Trump some credit, saying the pro-growth energy policies coming out of the current administration are what make it possible to build factories for AI, chips, and supercomputers at scale. Without that foundation, Huang warned, construction and electrician jobs would be "challenged," which would slow down the critical infrastructure development needed for AI to actually progress beyond PowerPoint presentations.

The Workforce Gap Is Getting Serious

The problem is that young workers aren't exactly rushing into these fields. According to a report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), workforce shortages are rising in sectors critical to U.S. resilience including manufacturing, AI, and cybersecurity. Technology workforce needs are projected to grow twice as fast as the overall labor market. Manufacturing alone may require 3.8 million new employees by 2033, with about half of those jobs at risk of remaining unfilled.

The National Association of Manufacturers reports there were nearly 13 million manufacturing workers in September, but employment actually slipped by 6,000 from August as the sector continues its slow march back toward pre-pandemic levels. Not exactly the surge Huang is hoping for.

Huang's argument to Rogan was simple: industrial work isn't optional. Every AI breakthrough depends on physical systems that must be built, powered, and maintained. Energy growth drives industrial growth, industrial growth drives job creation, and without that chain, national prosperity weakens and competitiveness declines. It's old-school economics applied to cutting-edge technology.

Humanoid Robots Will Need Their Own Support Industry

Now here's where it gets interesting. Huang thinks robotics will generate entirely new industries that literally don't exist today. He pointed to Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who has said Tesla plans to use its Optimus humanoid robots for internal factory tasks first, then eventually make them available to other companies.

"I'm super excited about the robots Elon's working on. It's still a few years away. When it happens, there's a whole new industry of technicians and people who have to manufacture the robots," Huang told Rogan. He envisions companies needing robot mechanics, long-term maintenance teams, and specialists who support humanoid systems on production lines.

And then Huang dropped this gem: he said a whole apparel industry for robots could emerge as factories adopt humanoid systems. Yes, robot fashion. Think about it. If you've got humanoid robots working alongside people, they'll need protective gear, functional clothing, maybe even branding. It sounds wild, but so did the idea of a smartphone app economy before the iPhone existed.

The broader point is that technological disruption doesn't just destroy jobs, it creates entirely new categories of work. Someone has to build the robots. Someone has to fix them when they break. Someone has to train workers on how to work alongside them. And apparently, someone has to dress them too.