An Italian manufacturer of transformers and power modules is lining up its first U.S. operations in Senatobia, with 35 jobs and a start the state expects near the end of November.
WREG reported Friday that Semar plans to lease 100,000 square feet in an existing facility and make low-power current transformers, electrical devices and smart solutions there. The state expects those positions to be filled by the end of 2026. The dates are a timetable, not confirmation that the floor is already running.
A Lease in an Existing Building
The Senatobia plan does not depend on a new shell. Semar is taking space that is already standing, which is why a late-November start can even be on the table. WREG put the lease at 100,000 square feet and described the work as low-power current transformers, electrical devices and smart solutions. That last phrase is as specific as the announcement gets.
The company's own catalog is more exact about hardware it already sells. Semar lists outdoor medium-voltage current transformers for equipment voltage up to 40.5 kV. That rating is not the low-power line named for Senatobia, and nothing in the site plan says the Mississippi operation will build those outdoor units.
The same company page says Semar is exhibiting at Electronica in Munich from November 10 through November 13. The U.S. announcement landed as that show reached its last day.
Thirty-Five Jobs and a Tight Calendar
WREG reported that Semar will create 35 jobs. Hiring is expected to run through the end of the year, while operations are expected to begin in the last stretch of this month. A start date and a full roster are only weeks apart on that calendar.
Mayor Greg Graves said Semar's investment supports Senatobia's industrial base, its business partners, growth and job creation. The jobs figure is still a plan attached to an opening that has not been reported as underway.
ABB's Larger Senatobia Footprint
Senatobia already builds electrical equipment at a different scale. On April 14, 2025, the Mississippi Development Authority said ABB was adding 200,000 square feet and equipment to raise production of air and molded-case circuit breakers. The agency called that a $40 million corporate investment expected to create 122 jobs, and said ABB expected to finish the expansion in the first quarter of 2026.
The Clarion Ledger reported the company was investing more than $40 million, and that the job projection had come down from 200 to 122. Both accounts used 122 jobs. They do not match on whether the investment was $40 million or more than that. ABB specializes in circuit breakers used from data centers to heavy industry, a different product from Semar's transformers, aimed at the same problem of moving and protecting power.
The Memphis Business Journal reported that ABB has been adding U.S. capacity as demand for power infrastructure grows, particularly in data centers. In October, ABB marked 10 years in Senatobia at a ribbon-cutting for a multimillion-dollar investment in the manufacturing facility. Governor Tate Reeves participated. He has also said manufacturing investment creates jobs and strengthens Mississippi's role in meeting America's energy needs.
Where 35 Jobs Sit in the State Count
The Development Authority has been counting a much larger foreign-investment and reshoring wave. In 2024, Mississippi reported 10,746 jobs from those projects, 5% of national job announcements and seventh in the country. First-quarter 2025 data moved the state to third, behind only Texas and South Carolina, with a projected 12,084 jobs, or 7% of announcements.
Since 2020, the agency says those projects have created or retained 15,245 jobs in Mississippi. More than 8,900 of the announced jobs, 59%, are in advanced manufacturing. If that pace holds, the same analysis says reshoring-related employment could add another 30,000 to 40,000 jobs over the next decade. That figure is a projection, not a headcount.
Semar's 35 positions would barely register in those rankings. They would put another electrical manufacturer into a city already expanding breaker production for data centers and heavy industry. The date that matters on the ground is closer than the decade forecast: operations are expected near the end of November, and the 35 jobs are expected to be filled by the end of the year.
