Two of the largest data center investments announced in the United States are moving forward in Arkansas and Mississippi, where Elon Musk-owned AVAIO Digital Partners and xAI plan more than $26 billion in combined development in the neighboring states, projects that rank as the largest economic investments in history for each.
In Arkansas, AVAIO will build a multi-phase data center campus on a 760-acre site in Pulaski County, with a $6 billion first phase. The campus, called AVAIO Digital Leo, will feature computing, networking and data storage technologies and power infrastructure for cloud and AI applications.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2026. Entergy Arkansas is under contract to deliver 150 MW of power by June 2027, and AVAIO anticipates total demand could reach 1 GW as the campus expands. The company said the project will create thousands of construction jobs and more than 500 permanent operations jobs over the next five years.
AVAIO CEO Mark McComiskey said the site “will be both a major hub of data center capacity and a sustained economic and technology driver for Arkansas,” adding that total construction is expected to exceed $21 billion. The company said the campus will incorporate water-efficient cooling, rainwater harvesting, rooftop solar economy and advanced cooling system, with natural forests and landscaped buffer spaces around the site.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the project “represents the largest economic investment in Arkansas history and sets the [state] to become a technology powerhouse that can compete with any state in the nation,” adding that legislation passed last year more than halved regulatory timelines for new energy projects and introduced additional incentives aimed at supporting data center development.
In Mississippi, xAI has committed more than $20 billion to a new data center in Southaven. Gov. Tate Reeves called it “the largest economic development project in Mississippi history” and “an amazing start to what is sure to be another incredible year for economic development” in the state.
The company is adapting a building for the facility, to be known as MACROHARDRR, with the project expected to create hundreds of permanent jobs in DeSoto County. The site is near xAI’s recently acquired power plant in Southaven and one of its existing data centers. The Mississippi Development Authority approved the project for the state’s data center incentive, providing a sales and use tax exemption for computer equipment.
Musk said that xAI is building a third data center in the greater Memphis area, adding that MACROHARDRR “drives our Colossus training computer in [about] 2GW: By far the most powerful AI system on Earth.” Mississippi’s focus on “speed, certainty and readiness” helped secure the project, said state development agency Executive Director Bill Cork, who called it evidence the state is ready for large-scale technology development.
