Data Center Site Selection in Mississippi

Mississippi does not have a single power market. A parcel’s utility service territory determines who studies the load, who builds the generation and which rules apply. Entergy Mississippi serves much of the central and western state and operates within MISO, the regional market covered in our MISO site selection guide. Mississippi Power, part of Southern Company, serves the southeastern counties, including Meridian, where it agreed to supply about 500 MW to the Compass campus under a special contract approved by the Mississippi PSC.¹² Across the north, the Tennessee Valley Authority sells wholesale power to local power companies; Northcentral Electric Cooperative, for example, distributes TVA power in eastern DeSoto County and nearby parts of Marshall, Tate and Lafayette counties.⁴

Electric cooperatives and municipal systems serve other rural areas and towns. A site that looks attractive on a map can sit a few miles inside the wrong territory, so confirm the serving utility and its wholesale supplier before anything else.

The Jackson metro became the state’s first hyperscale cluster in January 2024, when Amazon Web Services committed $10 billion to two hyperscale data centers at two industrial parks in Madison County, with about 1,000 jobs expected.⁷ Entergy Mississippi supplies the power.¹³ AWS broke ground later in 2024.¹⁴

The cluster has kept growing. In April 2026 Amazon announced another $12 billion, with $11 billion to extend operations in Ridgeland and $1 billion for a new presence in Clinton.¹⁵ The Clinton project retrofits the former Delphi plant and is projected to add about 100 jobs, and a separate $3 billion project in Vicksburg was announced in November 2025, bringing Amazon’s planned Mississippi total to about $25 billion.¹⁵¹ That pattern, reusing large industrial buildings with existing utility service, is covered in our guide to repurposing industrial and power plant sites.

For other developers, the Amazon cluster cuts both ways. Entergy’s chief executive has described the utility as building to serve data centers it powers, which signals a utility willing to build for large loads.¹³ It also means a meaningful share of near-term capacity and transmission work in the Jackson area is already spoken for, so ask Entergy where new loads would fit in its build plan and on what ramp schedule.

The biggest Mississippi projects have been negotiated as packages with the Legislature. Lawmakers approved the Amazon incentives in a special session in January 2024.⁷ The package included $44 million in state incentives, $32 million of it for job training, and let Madison County borrow $215.1 million from the state for roads and water and sewer extensions, to be repaid from the company’s fees in lieu of taxes.⁷

A 2024 state law limits the Public Service Commission’s power over the Entergy–Amazon contract, and Entergy’s spending and construction for the project do not need the commission’s prior approval; the contract’s length is not public.⁵ Entergy says the Amazon load will save its other customers money, while a Synapse Energy Economics report argues the projects have likely already raised residential rates.¹⁶⁵

For site selection this matters in two ways. A megaproject path can move fast once state leaders commit, but it depends on a project large enough to justify a special session. And the public debate over data centers and electricity ratepayers is active in Mississippi, so expect questions about who pays for new generation at any public hearing.

Mississippi’s standing data center tax exemption does not require special legislation.⁶ To qualify, a company must be approved by the Mississippi Development Authority, invest at least $20 million and create at least 20 full-time jobs paying 125% of the average annual state wage.⁶ Benefits include a ten-year exemption from sales and use tax on certain construction materials and equipment, plus income and franchise tax exemptions.⁶

The Legislature lowered these thresholds in 2019, from $50 million of investment, 50 jobs and 150% of the average wage, at MDA’s request; critics now argue the $20 million floor was set for a far less capital-intensive industry.⁶ Compass Datacenters’ Meridian certification shows how the program applies in practice: ten-year state income and franchise tax exemptions and a sales and use tax exemption covering construction materials, equipment, and software and hardware replacements.¹² Refresh cycles for servers make that replacement coverage valuable over a project’s life. Compare it with other states in our sales tax exemptions by state guide.

Compass Datacenters’ Lauderdale County campus is the clearest Mississippi Power example. The plan calls for an eight-building campus built over about eight years, with Mississippi Power supplying roughly 500 MW.²¹² The $10 billion headline figure is counted at full occupancy and includes tenants’ IT equipment, not only the developer’s spending, and Mississippi Power is investing in a substation for the I-20/59 Industrial Park.¹²

Two lessons carry over to other sites. First, an eight-year, building-by-building plan is a phased buildout, and the utility will want a firm load ramp to plan generation and substations around. Second, headline investment numbers in announcements often bundle tenant equipment, so use MW and buildings, not dollars, when comparing what a utility actually committed to serve.

DeSoto County, just south of Memphis, is now part of the region’s AI computing cluster. In January 2026 xAI announced a $20 billion data center in Southaven, which Governor Tate Reeves called the largest private investment in state history, as its third data center in the greater Memphis area.³ Its nearby Southaven power plant site supplies xAI’s Colossus 2 data center across the state line in Memphis.¹⁰

The permit shows how air permitting can become the critical path. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality held a public hearing in Southaven in February 2026, where speakers were unanimously opposed, and the MDEQ Permit Board then unanimously approved a construction permit for xAI affiliate MZX Tech to install 41 gas turbines on March 10, 2026, replacing 27 unpermitted units already on site.¹⁰ On April 9, 2026, the Southern Environmental Law Center announced an appeal of the permit on behalf of community groups.¹¹ Anyone planning bridge power or permanent on-site generation should read our guide to air permits for data center generators and budget for organized opposition.

Grid service in north Mississippi runs through TVA’s local power companies.⁴ On August 20, 2026, the TVA board approved a wholesale rate class for data centers. From October 1, 2026, new or expanding data center loads above 5 MW pay a capacity commitment charge, with an average bill impact of about 10% phased in over three fiscal years, and requests above 100 MW require board approval.⁸ The Tennessee guide covers the TVA side of the Memphis market.

The projects above share a pattern: a willing utility with a generation plan, a state incentive path matched to project size, and either industrial land or an existing building near strong transmission. A practical first pass looks like this:

1. 01Confirm the serving utility and, for co-ops and municipal systems, the wholesale supplier. In TVA territory, model the new data center rate and the 100 MW board approval step.⁸
2. 02Ask the utility how new load fits its generation build plan and what the large-load interconnection process and collateral look like.
3. 03Decide early whether the project fits the statutory incentive or needs a negotiated package with MDA.⁶
4. 04If on-site generation is part of the plan, scope the air permit, public hearing and possible appeal before closing on land.¹⁰
5. 05Check water supply, floodplain mapping and wetlands, which are common constraints in the Delta and along rivers; see our floodplain guide.

Neighboring markets are worth comparing, especially Louisiana and Alabama. If you want an outside read on a specific parcel, you can get a site reviewed.