Elon Musk’s xAI is committing more than $20 billion to a massive data centre project in Southaven, Mississippi.
This is the largest private investment ever recorded in the state, revealing an escalation in the global need for computing power.
The facility, known as MACROHARDRR, will span about 800,000 square feet and is scheduled to begin operations in February 2026. Governor Tate Reeves confirmed the investment, describing it as a big moment for Mississippi’s economy and its focus on high-end digital infrastructure.
xAI is scaling fast, and Southaven is important to that plan. The site will expand the company’s Colossus supercomputer cluster to almost 2 gigawatts of compute power, placing it in the same league as hyperscale systems operated by Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
The data centre is being developed from a former GXO logistics warehouse and sits close to xAI’s newly acquired power plant site in Southaven, as well as its existing data centre operations in Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis already hosts Colossus, which the company has described as the largest supercomputer cluster in the world. The Southaven build effectively extends that footprint across state lines.
Governor Reeves spoke about the scale of the deal, calling it “the largest economic development project in Mississippi’s history.” State officials say the investment will create hundreds of permanent jobs in DeSoto County and deliver long-term tax revenue to support education, healthcare and public safety.
Musk first disclosed the purchase of MACROHARDRR on December 30, noting that it would lift xAI’s total compute capacity to 2GW, though he did not reveal the location or cost at the time. Those details now underline how capital-heavy the push for advanced computing has become.
Demand for data centres surged last year as companies rushed to secure the hardware and power needed to train increasingly complex models.
Bloomberg reported that xAI spent $7.8 billion in cash in the first nine months of 2025 alone, a reminder that firms in this space burn through capital at an exceptional pace.
Globally, investment is growing. Industry forecasts put hyperscaler capital expenditure above $600 billion in 2026, up 36% from the previous year, with around three-quarters of that spending tied directly to advanced computing infrastructure.
More than 770 future hyperscale facilities are already in the pipeline, and single campuses are now measured in gigawatts rather than megawatts.
Against that backdrop, the Mississippi Data Centre places xAI among the world’s biggest infrastructure builders.
