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Dive brief:
- The cloud computing subsidiary of multinational tech giant Amazon, Amazon Web Services, will invest $10 billion in Mississippi to build two data center complexes, the company announced on January 25.
- AWS will build the facilities in two industrial parks in Madison County, which is just outside the state capital of Jackson. The project is the greater capital investment in state history, according to a statement from the Mississippi Development Authority.
- Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation ending the deal on Jan. 30 that included $44 million in state incentives and said the data centers could be at least partially open by 2027local media outlet WJTV reported.
Diving knowledge:
Since 2010, Amazon has invested $2.3 billion in Mississippi, including the construction of five fulfillment and sorting centers, four delivery stations, five solar farms and the state’s first utility-scale wind farm, according to the company’s statement. It is also the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the state.
This record $10 billion investment from the private sector will create hundreds of high-tech jobs for Mississippians, Reeves said in the development authority’s statement.
“Mississippi is building a business climate that is ripe for additional growth, particularly in the technology sector,” he said.
Data centers have been a hot spot for Amazon as it looks to bolster its own technology capabilities. Last year, in Ohio alone, the company announced two investments: one worth $7.8 billionand another worth $3.5 billion — in data centers across the state.
In immediate construction, Amazon was also responsible for two of the larger data centers to begin with last year: the $1 billion Prime Data Center campus in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and the $515 million data farm in Hilliard, Ohio.
This growth comes as the activity of some other sectors, such as the construction of offices, the beaches. The conglomerate bought nine office buildings in Loudoun County, Virginia, last June, but plans to overthrow them to make way for more data center facilities.
