Hitachi Energy to build $528 million transformer plant in Mississippi, with production slated for 2029

Hitachi Energy plans to spend $528 million on a transformer factory in Gallman, Mississippi, its largest single U.S. investment, with construction starting late this year and production not beginning until 2029.

The jobs number depends on who is counting. Hitachi Energy's announcement puts it at over 700. The Mississippi Development Authority, which is providing assistance through the state's MFLEX tax incentive program along with site development and infrastructure work, says the project will create 654. Governor Tate Reeves, announcing the project from the G20 energy summit in Houston, used "over 650."

The reference point that matters more than either figure: Hitachi Energy's existing Copiah County plant produces small power transformers and employs 475 people, according to the governor's office. The new site sits roughly 6.5 miles away, on 45 acres at the Copiah County Industrial Park, and once it is finished transformer production moves there from Crystal Springs. The company said the Crystal Springs building will then be used for warehousing, training or other operational needs.

So this is not a greenfield plant dropped into a county with no industrial base, and it is not a straightforward addition either. It is a transition of transformer production a few miles down the road, with Hitachi saying the new factory will create over 700 jobs and the governor's office putting the figure at 654 against an existing 475-person Copiah County workforce.

What comes out of the plant explains why the labor problem is a specific one. The Gallman factory will make mid-range transformers used in data center projects, semiconductor plants and other industrial operations with heavy power needs, Reuters reported, equipment the company described as roughly the size of a detached garage rather than the two-story-house scale of the largest transmission units. The plant could produce dozens of transformers a year. Hitachi Energy chief executive Andreas Schierenbeck, speaking at the Houston conference, said those transformers "are closing this critical gap from transmission transformers to industrial production."

The state's workforce agency is already treating the hiring as the hard part. "This expansion is about more than adding 654 jobs. It will create new career pathways and generational opportunity across Copiah County and the surrounding region," AccelerateMS Executive Director Courtney Taylor said in the governor's announcement, adding that the agency is committed to working with the company and education partners "to prepare Mississippians for these highly skilled roles." That commitment was made before a single foundation was poured, which is a fair indication of how long the training pipeline is expected to take.

Gallman is the fourth and largest piece of a roughly $1.5 billion American manufacturing program. In June, Hitachi Energy broke ground on a $457 million expansion of its large power transformer factory in South Boston, Virginia, which it says will be the nation's largest of its kind and add 825 jobs. Last August it announced a $106 million transformer-component expansion in Alamo, Tennessee, with more than 100 jobs, and before that a $70 million expansion in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, for high-voltage grid equipment. Together the company puts the program at over 1,600 jobs.

Measured against a global workforce of more than 56,000 people across 60 countries and revenues of around $20 billion, 1,600 U.S. manufacturing hires are a small share of the company. Measured against Copiah County, 654 is not.

The demand case is the same one being made across the grid-equipment industry: U.S. power consumption at record highs, driven by data centers and the electrification of buildings and transportation, running into a shortage of transformers and circuit breakers. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, speaking about the factory in Houston, put it in supply terms. "We're going to build big things in our electrical infrastructure, but we need the components," he said. "We need the transformers to build that big expansion."

The structural point for anyone staffing this sector is in the calendar. A transformer plant announced in September 2026 does not ship product until 2029. Construction is expected to begin late this year, while transformer production is scheduled to start in 2029. Mississippi's total nonfarm employment hit a record 1,196,200 jobs in July, according to the governor's office.

Hitachi, Ltd. has invested and committed more than $14 billion in the United States since 2020, President and CEO Toshiaki Tokunaga said in the company's announcement.