Why developers come here
Mississippi entered the hyperscale market in January 2024 when the Legislature met in special session to approve Amazon Web Services’ two-campus, $10 billion project in Madison County, at the time the largest private investment in state history. Since then the state has landed AVAIO Digital’s $6 billion campus in Rankin County, Compass Datacenters in Meridian, and a string of smaller projects; the governor’s office put total announced data center investment at about $26 billion by late 2025.
The draw is a combination of low land cost around the Jackson metro and along I-20 and I-55, industrial power that averaged 6.81 cents per kWh in 2024 (EIA; 7.66 cents year-to-date through June 2026), a certified-enterprise exemption that reaches income and franchise tax as well as sales tax, and a state government that has demonstrated it will pass project-specific legislation quickly.
Incentives
- Data Center Enterprise exemption. Under Mississippi’s data center program, most recently reset by SB 2271 of 2019 (effective July 1, 2019), a business certified by the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) as a data center enterprise must invest at least $20 million and create at least 20 full-time jobs paying at least 125 percent of the state average annual wage. In return it receives a 10-year exemption from sales and use tax on building materials and equipment for construction or expansion, on purchases of electricity and other utilities, and from state income and franchise tax on the certified enterprise. Terms are set in a performance agreement with MDA. The 2019 act lowered the earlier thresholds of $50 million, 50 jobs, and 150 percent of the average wage.
- Project-specific legislation. SB 2001 (2024 special session) created a separate tier for the AWS project. Mississippi Today reports that to qualify for the same treatment another company would need to invest at least $10 billion and create 1,000 jobs at 125 percent of the state average wage. The same act let Entergy Mississippi build infrastructure for the project without the Public Service Commission’s normal approval, barred the commission from altering the contract’s terms for its duration, and classified the deal as a trade secret.
- Property tax. Local governments can grant fee-in-lieu agreements and ad valorem exemptions for large projects; AVAIO also received a Site Development Grant for the East Metro industrial park.
- 2026 status. No statewide moratorium or rollback has passed. Jackson’s city council tabled a six-month local moratorium in May 2026 on procedural grounds.
Power
Entergy Mississippi, in MISO South, serves the Jackson metro including Madison and Rankin counties, and is the utility for AWS and AVAIO. Mississippi Power, a Southern Company subsidiary outside any ISO, serves the southeast including Meridian, where Compass is building. The Tennessee Valley Authority serves the northern tier including DeSoto County.
Mississippi has no general large-load tariff or minimum-take rule adopted by the Public Service Commission. Large-load contracts are negotiated with the utility, and in the AWS case SB 2001 removed the commission from the approval path. That gap is the center of the current debate. A May 2026 Synapse Energy Economics analysis for Earthjustice estimated Entergy Mississippi residential customers had paid about $38 million by March 2026 toward investments tied to data centers and would reach $74 million by year end, roughly $10.60 a month on an average bill. Entergy disputes the framing: in an August 27, 2026 release it said data center revenue eliminated what would have been a $4.87 monthly increase in July, that it had filed for a further 41-cent reduction in October, and that the new load supports $300 million of grid work and three new gas plants without added customer cost.
Water use has come up in Rankin County; the AVAIO petition asked for written guarantees on water and electric bills. In north Mississippi, xAI’s use of unpermitted gas turbines in Southaven became the reference case for what local governments fear.
Where the projects are
The Jackson metro is the core: AWS in Madison County (Canton and Ridgeland sites), AVAIO Digital Taurus in Brandon’s East Metropolitan Center park in Rankin County, and Compass Datacenters’ campus in Meridian on Mississippi Power. Southaven in DeSoto County hosts xAI’s Memphis-area overflow. I-20 west toward Vicksburg and I-55 north toward Grenada are where site selectors are now looking.
Local politics
The state and county levels have been welcoming: the Legislature passed SB 2001 in days, Rankin County supervisors approved the AVAIO site, and Governor Reeves has framed the projects as thousands of high-paying jobs. Madison County received a rate assurance from Entergy’s CEO when AWS was announced.
Opposition is organized around bills, water, and secrecy rather than farmland. Nearly 1,000 Brandon-area residents signed a petition in fall 2025 demanding guarantees that AVAIO would not raise utility bills or pollute; the county board did not respond publicly. Jackson’s council moved toward a six-month moratorium in May 2026 after Southaven residents testified about the xAI turbines, then tabled it when the city attorney warned it might be a zoning change requiring 15 days’ notice. The Earthjustice and Mississippi Today reporting on bill impacts has made cost allocation a legislative issue heading into 2027.
What a landowner should know
Central Mississippi campuses have been assembled at 300 to 1,000 acres, often inside or adjacent to a county industrial park with an existing Entergy transmission line. Option agreements with confidentiality clauses are standard; the AWS site was assembled under a code name before the special session.
Counties outside the Jackson metro often have limited zoning, so the public decision points are the MDA certification, the county fee-in-lieu vote, and any Entergy filing. The state contact is the Mississippi Development Authority, which certifies data center enterprises. Rate questions go to the Mississippi Public Service Commission, keeping in mind that its authority over a project can be limited by statute, as it was for AWS.