Data Centers In Mississippi

Mississippi is a hyperscale state with almost no retail colocation market. AWS’s Canton campus runs more than 350 MW of IT capacity today and is planned for 1,000 MW at full build, and xAI’s MACROHARDRR site in Southaven is a $20 billion-plus build that extends xAI’s Colossus compute across the Tennessee line.

The rest of the five largest operating sites are small or unpublished: CleanSpark’s bitcoin mine in Vicksburg, C Spire’s headquarters data center in Ridgeland, and the USNX data center in Jackson.

The state’s pitch is incentives and land. Mississippi offers one of the lowest qualification bars in the country for data center tax breaks, and it granted Amazon a permanent sales tax exemption on equipment. Business power costs 13.82¢/kWh, the grid runs on natural gas, and the Gulf Coast carries hurricane risk.

Hyperscalers buying land and tax relief at scale get a strong deal. Enterprises looking for retail colocation will find four small facilities and better options in neighboring states.

Mississippi Data Center Tracker

Why Colocate In Mississippi?

Mississippi wins on tax incentives, cheap land, and room for gigawatt campuses. It loses on network depth, retail supply, a gas-heavy grid, and hurricane exposure on the coast.

The six factors below weigh each side.

1. Market Access And Latency

Jackson sits at the crossroads of I-55 and I-20, with fiber routes running north to Memphis, south to New Orleans and Louisiana, east to Birmingham and Alabama, and west toward Dallas.

Southaven in the far north is effectively part of the Memphis metro, which is why xAI spread its Colossus compute across the state line.

None of that makes Mississippi a destination for latency-sensitive workloads. The state serves its own population and hosts hyperscale capacity that reaches users through long-haul networks.

2. Network Connectivity And Peering

Interconnection is thin. Downtown Jackson holds the main carrier points, including Lumen’s facility at 111 E Capitol St and NETDOOR’s data center at 812 N State St with redundant fiber.

C Spire, the Ridgeland-based telecom, operates fiber across the state and runs data centers in Ridgeland, Hattiesburg, and Starkville.

Peering happens elsewhere. Networks serving Mississippi exchange traffic in Dallas, Atlanta, or Memphis, so any deployment that depends on dense peering needs transport out of state.

3. Power, Cost, And Sustainability

Mississippi’s power pricing favors large loads only. Industrial customers paid 7.50¢/kWh in May 2026, while business customers paid 13.82¢/kWh, close to the national average.

Retail colocation tenants see little benefit from the industrial rate. Buyers comparing colocation pricing across the South will find Mississippi’s retail rates unremarkable.

The grid leans hard on one fuel. Natural gas supplied 74% of generation in 2025, nuclear from Grand Gulf 15%, coal 5%, and solar 4%. Heavy gas dependence ties future power costs to gas prices and gives buyers with carbon targets little to work with.

Three utility systems split the state. Entergy Mississippi runs in MISO, Mississippi Power belongs to Southern Company, and TVA serves the northeast, so power terms depend on the county. Compass’s Meridian campus, for example, will draw about 500 MW from Mississippi Power.

Self-built power is a flashpoint. xAI’s turbines in Southaven power its Memphis Colossus 2 cluster, and Mississippi regulators granted their air permit in March 2026 after they were already running. The NAACP sued in April 2026, and environmental groups are appealing the permit.

4. Tax Policy And Incentives

Tax policy is Mississippi’s strongest card, and critics say it is too generous. The standard program, certified by the Mississippi Development Authority, requires only a $20 million investment and 20 full-time jobs paying 125% of the state’s average wage.

In return, certified data centers get a 10-year exemption from sales and use tax on construction materials and equipment, plus exemptions from state income and franchise taxes. A 2019 change extended the sales tax exemption to utility purchases.

Amazon got more. Its 2024 package, passed outside the standard program, included a permanent sales tax exemption on equipment purchases, which matters most for a campus that refreshes servers every few years.

The low bar is real. Mississippi cut the investment threshold from $50 million to $20 million and the job count from 50 to 20 in 2019, which lets mid-size projects qualify where Tennessee and others require five times the investment.

5. Workforce And Ecosystem

Mississippi’s unemployment rate was 3.6% in July 2026, below the 4.1% national rate. That number flatters the state: Mississippi has one of the lowest labor force participation rates in the country, so the low jobless rate reflects a small workforce more than a strong one.

Skilled data center labor is scarce. Electricians, controls technicians, and critical facility staff are in short supply, and AWS, Compass, AVAIO, and xAI are all hiring at once.

Mississippi State University’s research park in Starkville, the University of Mississippi, and Jackson-area community colleges supply some technical talent. Large operators will still recruit from Memphis, Birmingham, and New Orleans.

6. Risk And Resiliency

Hurricanes are the Gulf Coast’s defining risk, and tornadoes strike statewide. Facilities need wind-rated construction, flood review, and generator fuel plans for multi-day outages.

Heat and humidity drive cooling costs. Mississippi households use the second-most electricity in the country, largely for air conditioning, and data centers face the same long cooling season.

The Jackson metro and Meridian sit far enough inland to avoid storm surge, and the AWS, Compass, and AVAIO campuses all sit inland.

Political risk centers on xAI. The Southaven turbine fight has turned self-built power into a legal question, and any developer planning on-site generation in Mississippi now faces closer scrutiny.

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Key Cities Or Submarkets In Mississippi

Mississippi’s map is dominated by the Jackson metro, where Amazon has built a cluster of campuses, with Meridian and Southaven as the only other large-scale markets.

The five submarkets below run from the busiest region to the smallest.

1. Jackson Metro: Canton, Ridgeland, And Jackson

The Jackson metro holds 18 of Mississippi’s 25 listings, and 13 of those belong to Amazon’s Canton and Ridgeland campuses. AWS’s Canton campus, profiled below, is the second site of Project Rainier and the largest operating data center in the state.

Amazon is still building. Its Ridgeland campus at 1626 County Line Rd is under construction and tied to an $11 billion announced investment.

Retail colocation in the metro comes from C Spire’s Ridgeland headquarters data center, NETDOOR and Lumen downtown, and the USNX data center on I-55 N, all profiled below. None of them publishes its size.

The Jackson metro suits state government, healthcare, and regional enterprises that need cabinets or small cages. Anything larger runs into a market built almost entirely for hyperscale tenants.

2. Brandon And Clinton

The Jackson suburbs are absorbing the next wave. AVAIO Digital Partners is building Taurus, a $6 billion hyperscale campus planned across 329 acres in Brandon’s East Metropolitan Center, starting with a 116 MW first phase.

In Clinton, AWS is spending $750 million to redevelop a former Milwaukee Tool facility at 1001 Industrial Park Dr into a data center.

Neither site offers retail space. They matter to hyperscalers and to the contractors and suppliers building for them.

3. Meridian

Meridian has only 2 listings, but it holds most of Mississippi’s published pipeline. Compass Datacenters is building eight 40 MW buildings of 250,000 sq ft each at 303 W Malone Ranch Rd, a $10 billion, 320 MW campus delivered over eight years.

Echelon Data Centres has proposed a 500 MW campus at the Sonny Montgomery Industrial Park.

The pipeline is concentrated. Echelon and Compass account for 820 MW of the 936 MW of planned capacity in Mississippi that publishes a figure, about 88%, and Echelon’s share, the larger of the two, is still only a proposal.

4. Southaven

Southaven sits in Mississippi’s northwest corner, inside the Memphis metro. xAI’s MACROHARDRR site at 2400 Stateline Rd W, profiled below, is a retrofitted building that extends xAI’s Colossus AI data center complex across the state line.

Southaven hosts the gas turbines that power Colossus 2 in Memphis, which put the city at the center of the NAACP’s Clean Air Act lawsuit.

There is no retail market here. Enterprises in DeSoto County use Memphis providers for colocation.

5. Hattiesburg, Starkville, And Vicksburg

Outside the major metros, Mississippi’s data centers are small and specialized. C Spire runs colocation in Hattiesburg and in Mississippi State University’s research park in Starkville, both profiled below.

Vicksburg hosts CleanSpark’s bitcoin mine, and AWS’s Project Steamboat is planned in Warren County.

These markets suit regional businesses, university research groups, and disaster recovery for Jackson-area systems. They are too small for large deployments.

Notable Colocation Providers And Facilities In Mississippi

Mississippi’s provider list starts with the five largest operating sites and continues with the only retail colocation facilities in the state. Most publish no size, which says a lot about how small the retail market is.

The ten facilities below cover every site an enterprise buyer is likely to consider.

Notable Colocation Providers And Facilities In Mississippi

Mississippi’s five largest operating sites include two hyperscale AI campuses, a bitcoin mine, and two small enterprise facilities. Only Amazon publishes a capacity figure, which says a lot about how thin the rest of the market is.

1. AWS Canton Data Center Campus

Amazon Web Services’ Canton campus in Madison County runs more than 350 MW of IT capacity today and is planned for 1,000 MW at full build. It is the second campus of Project Rainier, AWS’s AI compute program for Anthropic.

Amazon’s January 2024 announcement of $10 billion for two Madison County complexes was the largest capital investment in Mississippi history at the time.

Canton is a single-tenant hyperscale site with no colocation access. It matters to other buyers for the power and fiber investment it has pulled into the Jackson metro.

2. xAI MACROHARDRR Southaven

xAI’s MACROHARDRR site at 2400 Stateline Rd W in Southaven is a retrofitted building backed by more than $20 billion of investment, with a February 2026 target for coming online. It pushes xAI’s Colossus compute toward 2 GW across the Memphis area.

The site sits beside the xAI turbines that are the subject of the NAACP’s Clean Air Act lawsuit, so its power arrangement carries legal risk.

MACROHARDRR is a single-tenant AI site with no retail access.

3. CleanSpark Vicksburg

CleanSpark runs a 17,500 sq ft bitcoin mining facility on 5 acres at 1000 Rubber Way in Vicksburg. The company does not publish capacity.

The site is a mining operation with no colocation services. It appears here because it ranks among the five largest operating sites in a state with few data centers.

4. C Spire Ridgeland Data Center

C Spire’s headquarters data center at 1018 Highland Colony Pkwy in Ridgeland offers colocation and IT services. C Spire does not publish its size.

The facility pairs colocation with C Spire’s in-state fiber, so tenants can buy space and connectivity from one Mississippi provider.

C Spire Ridgeland is best suited for Jackson-area enterprises, healthcare systems, and state agencies that want a local provider with managed services.

5. USNX Data Center Jackson

U.S.NEXT operates the USNX Data Center at 6360 I-55 N in Jackson, a full-service facility with backup power and redundant connections. It publishes no capacity figure.

The I-55 location gives tenants highway access north of downtown and separation from the downtown carrier buildings.

USNX is best suited for small and mid-size businesses that need full-service colocation in Jackson.

Recent Developments In Mississippi (Last 12 To 24 Months)

• April 2026: The NAACP, represented by Earthjustice and the Southern Environmental Law Center, sued xAI in federal court over 27 gas turbines in Southaven that power Colossus 2, alleging they ran before the required air permit.
• March 2026: The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality granted an air permit for xAI’s Southaven turbines, a decision environmental groups are appealing.
• February 2026: xAI targeted its $20 billion-plus MACROHARDRR site in Southaven to come online, extending its Colossus compute across the Tennessee line.
• August 2025: AVAIO Digital Partners announced its $6 billion Taurus campus in Brandon, then the third-largest investment in Mississippi history, with a 116 MW first phase due in the first half of 2027.
• January 2025: Compass Datacenters announced eight data centers over eight years in Lauderdale County, a $10 billion commitment that matched Amazon’s earlier investment.

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Drawbacks And Considerations For Colocation In Mississippi

Mississippi’s incentives are generous, but the market is thin for anyone who is not a hyperscaler. The five considerations below carry the most weight for buyers comparing Mississippi with Dallas, Atlanta, and other Southern markets.

1. Almost No Retail Colocation

Six small retail facilities serve the whole state, and none publishes its size. Buyers needing private suites, many carriers, or cloud on-ramps will find far more in Dallas or Atlanta.

2. A Grid That Runs On Gas

Three-quarters of in-state generation comes from natural gas. Power costs follow gas prices, and companies with carbon targets will need renewable contracts to offset the grid.

3. Thin Network And Peering

Mississippi has no major interconnection hub. Traffic exchanges in Dallas, Atlanta, or Memphis, which adds transport cost and latency for any deployment that depends on peering.

4. Hurricanes And Heat

The Gulf Coast faces hurricane risk, tornadoes strike statewide, and long, humid summers raise cooling costs. Inland Jackson and Meridian avoid storm surge, but no part of the state escapes the heat.

5. Incentives And Power Under Scrutiny

Critics argue Mississippi’s data center incentives are too generous, and xAI’s turbine lawsuit has made self-built power a legal fight. Developers betting on on-site generation or new tax breaks face more scrutiny than they did a year ago.

How Brightlio Can Help With Colocation In Mississippi

Brightlio helps organizations compare Mississippi colocation, cloud connectivity, AI infrastructure, and disaster recovery options across Jackson, Ridgeland, Hattiesburg, Starkville, Meridian, and nearby Southern markets. Our team helps clients evaluate facility fit, power pricing, carrier access, compliance needs, power density, cooling design, and long-term site risk.

We compare providers such as C Spire, NETDOOR, Lumen, U.S.NEXT, Compass Datacenters, and other Mississippi operators, along with options in Memphis, Dallas, and Atlanta when the in-state market falls short. For Mississippi projects, we pay close attention to MDA certification, utility territory across Entergy, Mississippi Power, and TVA, hurricane and tornado exposure, carrier routes out of state, and expansion rights.

Brightlio can support cabinet, cage, private suite, single-tenant, high-density, AI, and multi-site disaster recovery planning, and our quotes come free to clients. Contact Brightlio to compare Mississippi colocation solutions and start planning a cost-effective and resilient deployment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which U.S. State Has The Most Data Centers?

Virginia has the most data centers in the United States, led by Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County cluster, and Texas and California follow among the top data center markets in the US. Mississippi is a small market with 25 data center listings.

How Many Data Centers Are In Mississippi?

Mississippi has 25 data center listings from 5 operators. Jackson holds 18, Meridian 2, and Hattiesburg 2, with three smaller markets holding 1 each. Amazon accounts for 13 of the Jackson listings.

What Is The Largest Data Center In Mississippi?

AWS’s Canton campus is the largest, with more than 350 MW of IT capacity running today and 1,000 MW planned at full build.

Who Is Building Data Centers In Mississippi?

Amazon, xAI, Compass Datacenters, AVAIO Digital Partners, and Echelon Data Centres lead Mississippi’s buildout. Echelon’s proposed 500 MW campus in Meridian is the largest planned project in the state.

Are Mississippi Electricity Costs Favorable For Colocation?

For large loads, yes. Industrial customers paid 7.50¢/kWh in May 2026, while business customers paid 13.82¢/kWh, close to the national average. Retail colocation tenants see little of the industrial discount.

What Tax Incentives Does Mississippi Offer Data Centers?

Certified data centers investing at least $20 million and creating 20 jobs get a 10-year sales and use tax exemption on construction materials and equipment, plus income and franchise tax exemptions. Amazon received a separate package with a permanent sales tax exemption on equipment.

Which Cities Are Best For Colocation In Mississippi?

The Jackson metro, including downtown Jackson and Ridgeland, has the most retail options. Hattiesburg and Starkville offer C Spire facilities for regional needs, and buyers in Southaven use Memphis providers.

Can Mississippi Colocation Support AI Or High-Density Workloads?

Yes, at hyperscale. AWS’s Canton campus runs Project Rainier compute, and xAI, Compass, and AVAIO are building for AI tenants. Retail facilities in Mississippi are not built for dense GPU deployments.

Why Are People Protesting Against Data Centers In Mississippi?

The largest fight centers on air pollution from xAI’s gas turbines in Southaven, which the NAACP challenged in federal court in April 2026. Critics have argued that the state’s tax incentives for data centers are too generous.

Who May Not Need Mississippi Colocation?

Enterprises needing large retail suites, dense peering, or many cloud on-ramps will find more in Dallas or Atlanta. Companies with carbon targets face a gas-dominated grid, and Gulf Coast deployments carry hurricane risk.

Keep reading with our colocation guides for these nearby markets:

• Arkansas Data Center Colocation
• Data Centers In Texas
• Data Centers In Georgia