BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – Elon Musk’s $20 billion investment in a new AI data center in Southaven is no exception. What factors contributed to this result?
The data center is called MACROHARDRR and its purpose is to facilitate other operations in the Memphis metro area. The tax exemption granted by the Mississippi Development Authority constitutes an important incentive for this approach.
The MACROHARDRR project met all requirements by meeting the minimum capital investment and creating at least 20 new full-time jobs with an annual salary of 125% of the average annual salary. The exemption will last 10 years.
In fact, several things make Mississippi truly attractive to the industry. Gov. Tate Reeves and the state Legislature have really attacked the economy — exemptions for businesses, for example, but also phasing out the income tax and reducing the sales tax on groceries, with the goal of making them more affordable for workers. Environmental regulations are also more favorable to development.
So what does this mean for South Mississippi? Established industries are growing because of it – more investment at the Stennis Space Center, in Ingalls, and one big investment: the BWC terminal, which will help the Chevron refinery in Pascagoula.
Jamie Miller of the Gulf Coast Business Council says it may not sound glamorous, but business continues in South Mississippi.
“You see it here, but these announcements don’t seem as big because a lot of industries are already operating here,” Miller said. “Southern Mississippi certainly deserves more investment.”
This is no coincidence: the authorities are trying to lay the necessary foundations to make Mississippi more attractive to investors, and they are doing so through economic leverage.
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