How Louisiana's Data Center Deals Compare With Mississippi's and Alabama's

If you only followed Louisiana news, you might think the AI data center boom was happening mostly here. It isn't. Mississippi and Alabama have landed their own multibillion-dollar campuses over the past two years, and comparing the deals says a lot about what Louisiana is and isn't asking for in return.

We put every announced project of $1 billion or more in the three states into one table: the Gulf South Data Center Tracker. Here's what stands out.

The size of it

Louisiana has the region's largest single project, Meta's Hyperion campus in Richland Parish at more than $50 billion. But Mississippi has stacked up a long list of its own:

• xAI's Southaven expansion, which Gov. Tate Reeves announced in January as a $20 billion-plus investment.
• Amazon's four Mississippi facilities, totaling $25 billion and 2,000 jobs, Mississippi Today reported in April.
• Compass Datacenters' $10 billion, eight-building campus in Meridian, and AVAIO Digital's $6 billion campus in Brandon.

Mississippi's development agency has started calling the state the "Digital Delta." Alabama's projects are smaller so far: Applied Digital's $3.2 billion Delta Forge 2 near Brookwood, announced Sept. 25, plus expansions by Google in Jackson County and Meta in Montgomery at about $1.5 billion each.

Three approaches to the deal

Mississippi leans on the state. Lawmakers approved a $44 million package, a $215 million loan and tax breaks for Amazon's first campuses in 2024, according to Mississippi Today. A 2024 law also let Entergy Mississippi build power infrastructure for these projects without first getting approval from the state's Public Service Commission. Compass got 10-year state income and franchise tax exemptions and a $4 million county site grant, the governor's office said.

Alabama leans on local deals. Google's Jackson County campus operates under a 30-year local tax abatement, and Applied Digital agreed to $270 million in community benefit payments to Tuscaloosa County's economic development authority over 20 years, Data Center Dynamics reported. Google says it pays 100% of its own power and infrastructure costs at its TVA-served site.

Louisiana is a mix, with the biggest fight at the utility regulator. Louisiana offers a state sales and use tax exemption on qualifying data center equipment, which LED cited for Amazon and Applied Digital. Parish deals vary: West Feliciana says it negotiated directly with Hut 8 without an NDA. And Meta's power plan, seven gas plants, three batteries and new transmission, is before the Louisiana Public Service Commission this week. Mississippi's 2024 law skipped that kind of up-front review for Entergy Mississippi.

Pushback looks different, too

In Alabama, the pushback is at city hall. Eight cities, including Birmingham, Homewood and Leeds, have adopted temporary moratoriums or stricter rules on data centers, citing power use, water and noise, Business Alabama reported. In Mississippi, the sharpest fight has been over xAI generating its own power in Southaven. In Louisiana, it's been about secrecy and ratepayers: NDAs, the PSC's decision to keep Meta's records confidential, and landowners opposing a new 500-kilovolt line.

What this comparison can't tell you

• Which state got the better deal. That depends on terms that aren't all public, like how much tax each project would have paid without incentives and what each utility will charge.
• Whether the jobs will show up. Most job counts are projections, and the timelines run years.
• Whether every project will be built. Announcements sometimes shrink or stall, and investment figures often change between announcements. Mississippi Today, for example, later described a $6 billion plan for xAI's Southaven site, far below the governor's January figure.

We'll keep the tracker current as projects change. If your state, parish or county is weighing one of these deals, the deal terms column is a good place to start your questions.

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