The Southwire Starkville plant expansion adds roughly 380,000 square feet to a Mississippi cable plant that’s been running since 1979, and the plant isn’t shutting down while it happens. Gray Construction, the design-builder, broke ground in early October 2026, about two months after Southwire and the state announced a $256 million-plus investment.
Southwire’s reasoning is short. It says demand for power cable tied to electrification and data centers has outgrown what Starkville can make.
Project Scope
Gray starts by taking things away. Two existing structures totaling about 40,000 square feet come down to make room for new manufacturing space. The standout piece is a six-story tower for the extrusion process that jackets copper wire.
The building is designed to LEED Silver, which is still unusual for heavy manufacturing. Plans also include rainwater collection for gray water reuse and provisions for future solar. Existing lines stay in production through construction, and Gray expects close to 250 workers on site at peak.
The campus has grown before. Phelps Dodge opened the plant in 1979 and Southwire bought it in 1989. A 2010 project added an on-site distribution center. This is the second expansion on the site, and it’s far larger than the first.
Why It Matters
Cable gets less attention than transformers in the grid and data center conversation, but it’s the same kind of problem: a specialized product and capacity that takes years to add. Southwire’s answer is a companywide modernization commitment of more than $2 billion. Starkville is one of the most visible pieces of it.
By megaproject standards the numbers are modest. The expansion adds 128 jobs to a plant that already employs about 260, and Southwire targets full capacity in 2028. The Mississippi Development Authority is helping through the state’s Flexible Tax Incentive program, with the City of Starkville and Oktibbeha County also assisting. Nobody has published the dollar value of that help.
One detail stands out. In August, state announcements said construction would start in late 2026. Gray had a groundbreaking release out by Oct. 5. Starting early on a live brownfield site is the easy part, though. The real test is keeping a six-story steel tower going up next to running production lines without costing Southwire output it’s counting on.
Project Team & Details
| Owner / Client | Southwire Company, LLC |
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| General Contractor | Gray Construction (Design-Builder) |
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| Status | Under Construction |
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| Delivery Method | Design-Build |
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| Sustainability Certification | LEED Silver (targeted) |
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| Funding Source | Mixed |
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