- What Bell Canada plans to create a national data-centre network to power AI capabilities
- Why Bell wants to expand and capitalize on Canada’s sovereign AI computing capacity
- What next The first two facilities will open this year
Bell Canada plans to create a national data-centre network to feed growing computing demand for artificial intelligence, starting with a “supercluster” in British Columbia.
The project, dubbed Bell AI Fabric, will provide upward of 500MW of hydroelectric-powered AI computing capacity across six facilities. When built out, it will be the largest AI computing initiative in the country, the company said in a news release.
Bell did not outline the planned capital investments. The company did not immediately reply to a query from Green Street News.
The AI Fabric project comes almost five years to the day after Bell announced it was unloading 25 data centres across Canada.
“Bell’s AI Fabric will ensure that Canadian businesses, researchers and public institutions can access high-performance, sovereign and environmentally responsible AI computing services,” Bell chief executive Mirko Bibic said.
“Through this investment, Bell is immediately bolstering Canada’s sovereign AI [computing] capacity, while laying the groundwork to continue growing our AI economy.”
Bell’s ambitions align with those of newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has pledged to invest heavily in AI to boost economic growth.
The first of Bells’ new facilities is expected to come online in June with the launch of a 7MW AI inference facility in Kamloops, B.C. That project is a partnership with AI inference provider Groq.
Another facility in Merritt, B.C., will open by the end of this year.
Other planned Bell AI Fabric facilities include two additional 26MW AI data centres in Kamloops. The first will open in 2026 at Thompson Rivers University, providing students and faculty with access to cutting-edge computing capabilities. That will be followed by a 26MW data centre in 2027.
Two more AI data centres are in advanced planning stages. They will be designed for high-density AI workloads and will be powered by clean hydroelectricity. The two sites – the locations of which are yet to be revealed – will have a total capacity of more than 400MW.
Bell did not indicate where future facilities would be located outside of British Columbia or when they would be built, only saying the company will “take advantage of Bell’s nationwide real estate assets and will further add to the capacity of Bell AI Fabric.”
