Mississippi is getting a new anchor for the digital economy. AVAIO Digital Partners has broken ground on a multi-phase, $6 billion data center campus in Brandon. One of the largest private tech investments the state has seen. The project sits on a 329-acre site with room to scale, and it moves forward with an Entergy Electric Service Agreement already in place. That is different and important. Large-scale power is the gating factor for new compute buildouts. AVAIO is trying to derisk it up front.
Phase one targets 600,000 square feet and 116 MW of initial power. That’s serious capacity for AI and high-density workloads. Yates Construction, a Mississippi-based contractor with big-box and mission-critical credentials, has begun site work. Local sourcing isn’t just optics; it can reduce mobilization costs and shorten logistics chains as specialized trades ramp. AVAIO says first tenant occupancy is planned for the first half of 2027, which aligns with current lead times for long-cycle equipment like switchgear, chillers, and transformers.
The campus design will roll out in stages. That approach allows the developer to match the pace of construction to confirmed demand and utility milestones, while keeping options open on cooling as rack densities rise. The campus design calls for water-efficient cooling, rainwater recapture, rooftop solar, and cooling-system economization to reduce load. Mississippi’s incentives and land pricing help the business case. So does proximity to growing load centers in the Southeast, as cloud and AI operators push beyond traditional hubs.
Jobs are part of the pitch. The developer projects thousands of positions across construction and long-term operations. Communities increasingly ask what they get back from hyperscale. Reliable tax base, grid upgrades, and career-path roles are the usual answers when a project lands with scale.
One detail signals execution intent. Power procurement was advanced before ceremonial shovels. Given the high power demands of data centers, that’s the difference between a render and a real campus. If timelines hold, Brandon will join the shortlist of new U.S. metros breaking into the hyperscale map. Next indicators of real progress will be interconnect milestones, the campus water plan, and the first topping-out.
