Supporters say the projects represent an opportunity to modernize Mississippi’s economy and attract high-paying, high-skill jobs. But the scale of the investment and the rapid growth of generative AI have also raised questions about long-term risk, particularly if the technology underperforms or projected industry growth fails to materialize.
At the Stennis Capitol Press Forum on Monday, Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Bill Cork said the state’s approach is designed to ensure Mississippi still benefits even if markets shift.
“If the compute eventually has to go away, what would we be left with? We’d be left with big giant warehouses with lots of public infrastructure adjacent to them,” Cork said.
Cork said that unlike highly specialized industrial facilities, data centers are essentially large warehouses that can be repurposed for other uses. Those sites, he said, could support future manufacturing, logistics or other industrial operations.
The state’s recent economic development gains have been driven largely by private investment from companies such as Amazon Web Services and xAI, with firms committing billions of dollars to build facilities across multiple regions. Data centers, which employ fewer permanent workers than traditional manufacturing plants, have drawn particular attention because of their energy and infrastructure demands.
Cork said Mississippi has sought to limit risks to taxpayers by structuring incentive packages so companies only receive benefits after promised investments or jobs are delivered.
“We didn’t hand them any cash. If they produce the investment, they’ll get a tax break. If they produce the jobs, they’ll get a break,” Cork said.
Cork said the more immediate challenge for Mississippi’s economic future is managing the scale of new industrial demand, particularly for electricity.
“There’s going to be a point in time where this industrial demand is going to be so large that the residential portion of our entire portfolio will be a rounding error,” Cork said.
Cork also said many companies building data centers in Mississippi are paying for the power infrastructure needed to serve them, either by building their own generation or entering long-term power purchase agreements. He said the scale of that demand is significant, estimating that about six gigawatts of new industrial load are expected to come online, roughly matching Mississippi’s current statewide electricity consumption. Cork said he does not expect electricity rates to rise as a direct result of those projects, noting that utilities cannot increase rates without approval from the Public Service Commission.
Those concerns are beginning to shape policy discussions at the Capitol.
A Senate proposal, Senate Bill 2185, would set aside up to $10 million in the coming fiscal year to help subsidize costs associated with nuclear energy development. Supporters of the measure argue that expanding nuclear capacity could help Mississippi meet rising power demand while maintaining reliability and reducing carbon emissions.
