A third data center project is coming to Mississippi. This time in Brandon. 

The Mississippi Development Authority this week announced that AVAIO Digital is building a $6-billion campus. 

In a statement, Gov. Tate Reeves called it “another historic day for Mississippi.” But on social media, reactions were mixed.

Within a day some posts had hundreds of comments. People expressed concerns about potential pollution, energy costs and traffic. Others applauded the deal.

Data centers are popping up all over the country. They provide the massive computing power that tech companies need as they compete for dominance in the artificial intelligence boom. However, there has been community push back, from Oregon to Memphis. 

The impact on energy bills is likely the biggest concern. One study found that electricity bills could increase by as much as 8% by 2030 due to cryptocurrency mining and data centers. Mississippi energy companies have promised customers’ energy bills won’t increase.

There are also concerns about how few jobs data centers create. Reporting from Bloomberg in January revealed that a majority of the 1,000 jobs promised by Amazon’s Madison County data center will be contractors. The data center in Brandon is expected to create 60 jobs, plus initial construction jobs.

Do you live in a city where a data center is being built? We want to hear what you think. Email us at marketplace@mississippitoday.org

‘A no-hire, no-fire labor market‘

“What we’re seeing is kind of a continuation of what we’ve seen for the past few months. In Mississippi as well as across the country, it seems to be kind of a no-hire, no-fire labor market,” said Corey Miller, Mississippi’s State Economist on the latest state unemployment numbers. 

Mississippi’s unemployment rate stayed at 4.0% for the fourth month in a row. July’s unemployment rate for Mississippi was the largest increase year over year in the country, up from 3.1% in July 2024. 

However, this isn’t necessarily bad news for the economy. The increase in unemployment is likely due to more people entering the labor force. Real wages went up at the end of 2023 and inflation went down encouraging people who were not looking for work to rejoin the workforce. 

Poultry workers, the Fed and other news:

• Poultry is the largest agricultural commodity in Mississippi. A recent investigation from Mississippi Today highlights the alleged abuse of immigrant workers in the industry.
• The Atlanta Federal Reserve covers the southern half of Mississippi. Raphael Bostic, the president of the Atlanta Fed, recently completed a tour of the Southeast. He highlighted that “consumers are growing more stressed, and tariff costs are real” according to Bloomberg. 
• Solar is one way to supply power to data centers. Right now solar makes up 1% of Mississippi’s power sources.
• Bankruptcies in Mississippi are at historic lows. But they are still higher than the national average and have gone up over the past few years.
• Innovate Mississippi launched the fourth cohort of Cobuilders. Cobuilders is a 12-week startup accelerator to foster Mississippi entrepreneurs. The program is sponsored by Microsoft and will train seven Mississippi companies how to grow and scale. Mississippi’s entrepreneurial landscape has lagged behind that of other states, including Alabama and Louisiana.