Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been confirmed as the cloud company behind a $10bn data center development in Madison County, Mississippi.
The news was revealed after the completion of Thursday's "special session" of the state legislature, during which lawmakers also approved incentives for the project.
The incentive package that has been approved for the development, now dubbed "Project Atlas," includes a 10-year, 100 percent corporate income tax exemption, as well as incentives for sales and use tax for construction and any investments made 12 months post-construction. Amazon will also receive a rebate of 3.15 percent of eligible construction costs and a total exemption on sales and use tax on equipment.
In the long term, Amazon will have a 30-year rolling tax exemption provided the company invests a minimum of $500m annually and hires 50 additional jobs. The company will pay income tax after 10 years.
All tax incentives will come to an end in 2057.
According to the Amazon announcement, also shared January 25, the investment will include "multiple data center complexes" in two Madison County industrial parks which will create at least 1,000 jobs. Those data centers will cover around 1,700 acres of land in total.
Construction is expected to be completed by 2027, and the company may require between 6,000 and 7,000 construction workers to complete the facilities.
Power company Entergy Mississippi is set to ensure electricity can be generated for the sites as well as residents. It will be deploying additional solar farms in Hinds, Washington, and Tallahatchie for the data centers. Entergy is expected to invest between $2-3bn in these developments.
Amazon claims that, since 2010, it has invested $2.3bn in Mississippi on developments that include five solar farms and a wind farm. It will work with schools in the state as part of the project to promote STEAM subjects, and to offer support at the college level to prepare job seekers for work in the data center sector.
Joey Deason, executive director for the Madison County Economic Development Authority, said: "MCEDA has been pursuing this project for the past 5 years. We’ve had numerous partners who have been integral in landing this project. This win was a full community effort all around."