Amazon Web Services Breaks Ground on Mississippi Data Centers
May 20, 2024 - Madison County, MS
by: Richard Lake & Malaysia McCoy, WJTV 12
Officials broke ground on Monday for the largest economic development project in Mississippi history.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing $10 billion to establish multiple data center complexes in two Madison County industrial parks. Officials said the investment will create at least 1,000 high-paying, high-tech jobs.
This $10 billion investment by AWS is the single largest capital investment in Mississippi history and four times the size of the previous largest economic development project.
Mississippi lawmakers approved a $44 million incentive package this year, and the bill was signed by Gov. Tate Reeves (R-Miss.). Most of the state money, $32 million, will go toward job training programs.
Officials said the data centers will enable customers of all sizes and across all industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing, automotive, financial services, public sector, telecom, and more, to transform their businesses. The new data centers will contain computer servers, data storage drives, networking equipment, and other forms of technology infrastructure used to power cloud computing.
“It’s hard to put into words just how important today is to the future of Mississippi,” said Reeves. “It’s truly a watershed moment in Mississippi economic development history, and I’m proud of the massive impact this project will have on our state.”
Reeves said the data centers could be at least partially open by 2027.