By the Arkansas Delta Informer Staff

April 23, 2026 –Arkansas’s Steel Corridor just got another tenant today after a Japanese industrial conglomerate announced plans to build a $37 million advanced flat-rolled steel processing plant in Osceola

Marubeni-Itochu Steel America Inc., also known as MISA, said today (Thursday, April 23) that its multimillion-dollar strategic investment will create 35 new, high-paying jobs in Mississippi County, where the average annual salary for a mill worker in 2025 exceeds $60,000. Construction on the project will begin in May, with operations expected to start in December 2027.

“Our commitment to investing in Mississippi County reflects our confidence in the region’s potential and its skilled workforce. We are excited to contribute to the local economy and bring sustainable job opportunities to the area. This $40 million investment is a testament to our efforts to increase our business in North America and contribute to the economy,” said MISA President and CEO Toshio “Tony” Namiki.

New facility sits next to U.S. Steel’s Big River Steel complex, boosting flat-rolled capacity

The MISA specialty processing plant will be located adjacent to 1,300-acre Big River Steel complex, owned by the iconic Pittsburgh, Pa.-based U.S. Steel. Company officials said the new facility will significantly increase the region’s capacity to produce high-quality steel, serving customers across the South-Central United States, including those in the automotive industry.

Operated by MISA Specialty Processing (MSP), a MISA subsidiary, the new plant in Jackson, Mich., will join the company’s existing network of metal-processing facilities in North America. MISA also operates additional steel and metal-processing facilities in Louisville, Ky.; Portland, Tenn.; and Forest, Miss.

“This region has a rich legacy of supporting the steel industry, and its values are very much in line with those we hold at MSP. We truly appreciate the welcoming spirit of Mississippi County and are eager to become a lasting member of this vibrant community,” saidMSP President Chris VanDeventer. “We look forward to collaborating closely with local stakeholders and contributing to the continued growth and success of the area.”

In announcing the multimillion-dollar investment in northeast Arkansas’s growing steel community, Gov. Sarah Sanders said the Japanese steel giant’s investment is building America.

“Arkansas is at the center of the American steel boom, and this expansion continues to strengthen an industry that powers everything from our infrastructure to our economy,” said Sanders. “In Mississippi County, the top steel-producing county in America, that momentum is driven by a skilled workforce and a culture of hard work. We’re proud to have MISA help lead what comes next right here in Arkansas.”

As noted by Sanders, Mississippi County is now the nation’s largest steel-producing region and is home to several of the largest domestic and international steel producers, including two other Japanese industrial giants that have the White House’s seal of approval.

Exactly a year ago, President Trump approved Nippon Steel’s controversial $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, which had been previously blocked by the Biden administration over national security concerns. Since then, the Japanese steel giant has pledged billions of dollars in new investments in the U.S., including an expansion of the Big River Steel project in Mississippi County.

Mississippi County’s steel cluster grows alongside Nucor operations and major global investment

According to company officials, U.S. Steel has already invested $7 billion in Arkansas at the large industrial complex near the Mississippi River, including Big River Steel 1, which it acquired in 2021, and the Big River 2 plant it built last year. Overall, the two steel mills have a combined production capacity of 6 billion tons.

In addition, Nucor Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., the nation’s largest steel producer, also operates extensively in Mississippi County in Blytheville, about 15 miles upriver from Osceola. Nucor’s industrial complex includes Nucor-Yamato Steel, Nucor Steel Arkansas, and Nucor Skyline, making this one of the top steel-producing regions in the United States.

Nucor-Yamato Steel is a joint venture between Nucor and Yamato Kogyo, established to operate a steel mini-mill that manufactures wide-flange beams. Today, Nucor-Yamato Steel has the capacity to produce more than 2.5 million tons per year of not only wide-flange beams but also H-piling, sheet piling, standard I-beams, channels, and other structural shapes.

Those Nucor mills also produce hot-rolled, cold-rolled, galvanized, and painted sheet steel used in various end products, such as automotive, energy, construction, appliances, agricultural equipment, and heavy trucks and trailers.

“Mississippi County … is becoming the epicenter of the American steel industry, and the industry is getting even hotter with MISA’s new steel processing plant in Osceola,” said Clint O’Neal, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC). “This is another great economic development win for Osceola that creates new jobs and opportunities in the region.”

According to AEDC, MISA will receive the state’s Create Rebate over a five-year period. This state incentive, at O’Neal’s discretion, provides annual cash payments based on a company’s payroll for a minimum number of new, full-time, permanent employees. The business must reach the payroll threshold for its tier within 24 months of the signing of the financial incentive agreement.

The Japanese steel producer will also be enrolled in the AEDC Tax Back program, which provides sales and use tax results for new business creation. To qualify, businesses must invest at least $100,000 in building materials, machinery, or equipment and meet additional job creation requirements.

In addition to the region’s booming steel industry, which has also been boosted by President Trump’s favorable tariff policy, Mississippi County recently announced the second-largest economic development project in the state’s history and has several energy projects in the pipeline to meet the region’s power needs.

In October, Google announced a $4 billion investment in cloud and AI infrastructure in Arkansas through 2027, including the building of a new data center in West Memphis. Google stated it will cover all energy costs for the facility, which will be powered by Entergy Arkansas’s new 600-megawatt solar project and 350-megawatt battery storage system in Jefferson County. 

Across the river in Memphis, Elon Musk is rapidly expanding xAI’s $6 billion Colossus supercomputer in the Whitehaven community. To power the facility, Musk has approved an agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to supply the xAI supercomputer with 150 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power 100,000 homes. At full capacity, Colossus will require 300 megawatts of electricity to run X’s Grok chatbot and other AI and cloud computing services.

Additionally, West Coast-based Cypress Creek Renewables recently acquired ownership of a decades-long renewable energy project, Steel River. In March, Cypress Creed said it had purchased the sprawling Arkansas solar project from a Boston private equity group, Swift Current Energy,  for an undisclosed amount.

First announced in 2020, Steel River will be developed and constructed in three phases, each with approximately 815 megawatts (MW) of solar generation paired with 240 MW/960 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery storage capacity. All phases are expected to be placed in service by 2029.

Cypress Creek, which has ongoing projects in 24 states, said once the three-phased development in Arkansas is completed, Steel River will be among the largest solar-plus-storage projects in the U.S., doubling the size of the Yakima, Wash.-based company’s current operating and upcoming portfolio to nearly 7 gigawatts

(The Arkansas Delta Informer is a sister publication of Arkansas Black Vitality)