Bill Cork, director of the Mississippi Development Authority, on Monday made the case that Mississippi’s economy is ascendent, citing multi-billion dollar deals, strategic efforts from his office and the governor and new jobs. At the Stennis Capitol Press Forum, Cork, who was nominated by Gov. Tate Reeves in December of 2023 to run the state’s economic development agency, gave the audience a recap of MDA’s accomplishments in 2025. He said the state saw over $21 billion in capital investment in 2025, in addition to a $20 billion xAI deal that was announced in early 2026.  Cork said that he is frequently asked whether Mississippi can deliver the workforce a project needs. He thinks it’s possible to “move the needle for Mississippi by recruiting companies that take lower-skill, lower-wage employees and convert them int0 the high-skill, high-wage, family sustaining careers.”  He cited Accelerate Mississippi, the state’s workforce development program launched in 2021, as an example of how the state has better positioned itself to meet business needs and attract new investment. This includes changing from corporate incentives that are paid up front to a tax credit system based on metrics such as investment and making sites ready for investors.  Recently, data centers have been a top source of capital investment for the state and across the South, including a large deal with Amazon for Mississippi. Cork talked about the advanced computing, sophisticated technology, jobs and innovative engineers that come with these projects, benefits beyond the millions of local taxes data centers bring. Data centers are cropping up all over the South with plentiful land, energy availability and friendlier regulations. In the past few years, five clusters have been announced across Mississippi. But some residents have raised concerns about impacts to the water and air quality, noise pollution, the relatively few jobs these projects bring considering the investment, and primarily, energy utility costs for customers. Cork said that he does not want data centers to raise electricity rates customers pay. He added that some companies are investing to expand the existing grid, such as Amazon, or provide their own power, such as xAI. In addition, the state is looking to expand energy production.   “I think the more important question we need to ask about data centers is what is each individual data center doing and scrutinize them on a one-off basis rather than lumping them all into one,” Cork said. Most of the slides Cork presented on Monday can be seen on MDA’s website.  ...read more read less