The non-binding memorandum of understanding will be the largest private investment in the province’s history, quadrupling planned capacity.
Bell is on track to build Canada’s largest data center after signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the province of Saskatchewan.
News: Concluding the first day of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, Premier Mark Carney, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Bell CEO Mirko Bibic announced an agreement to expand Bell’s data center operations in Saskatchewan by 900 megawatts on Monday afternoon.
The non-binding memorandum of understanding expands on Bell’s original agreement with Saskatchewan in March of this year for a 300-megawatt data center near Regina. The new commitment brings the project’s capacity to 1.2 gigawatts.
Bell said the total capital investment for the project could exceed $50 billion. It will be the largest private capital investment in Saskatchewan’s history, Carney said on stage. He added that Bell’s AI Fabric is the largest sovereign AI infrastructure network in Canada.
From the source: “There are two ways to deal with this,” Carney said. “You can send your data somewhere else or create it right here in Canada, using Canadian authority and Canadian laws, and with the confidence that comes from being a stable and open partner.”
Context: Bell’s expansion follows the federal government and some provinces, including Saskatchewan, setting ground rules for data center development across Canada. Saskatchewan said Bell’s expansion was approved under its data center framework, which stipulates that projects must be Canadian-owned, maintain data sovereignty and have their own facilities.
Before Monday’s announcement, Alberta held the crown for Canada’s largest data center development thanks to an agreement with Meta to build a one-gigawatt artificial intelligence-optimized data center northeast of Edmonton.
Last thought: Ahead of the Canada Investment Summit, several Canadian data center projects were listed in a pitch book sent to participants last week; The Bell Project in Saskatchewan was not on the list.
Earlier Monday, Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez told the Canadian Global Growth Forum that he believes Canada has the potential to become a data center superpower.
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Image courtesy of Mark Carney via X.