Bell Canada to launch 6 AI data centres in B.C.

Lauren Vanderdeen · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 10:31 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Telecom elephantine Bell Canada has announced plans to physique six artificial quality information centres successful B.C.

Bell AI Fabric volition make a "data centre supercluster" successful the province beginning with a centre successful Kamloops this June and different successful Merritt by the extremity of the year.

Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell Canada, said helium wants the task to go "the cloth for the AI system for Canada."

"To bash it close here, you know, starting successful B.C., is simply a testament to each the attributes that British Columbia has successful presumption of benignant of the earthy resources of the hydroelectric power, the innovation mindset, universities who are … ready, consenting and capable to articulation in," Bibic told the CBC.

Kamloops to big 3 centres

In summation to the archetypal 2 locations, Bell AI Fabric plans to unfastened different 4 AI information centres successful the province.

Two much volition unfastened successful Kamloops successful 2026 and 2027, portion the last 2 locations person not yet been announced. 

LISTEN | Bell AI Fabric president talks AI information centres and the section economy:

Thompson Rivers University successful Kamloops volition beryllium location to 1 of the information centres designed to big AI grooming and inference.

Asked astir the powerfulness proviso needed to tally the centres amid concerns about B.C. Hydro gathering aboriginal electrical demand, Bibic said helium believes determination is capableness successful the B.C. Interior. He added that they picked Kamloops for 3 of the centres for its entree to reliable cleanable vigor and its "ideal climate."

He promised Bell volition prosecute section workers arsenic it builds and manages the centres and noted Bell AI Fabric president, Dan Rink, is based successful Kamloops.

Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz said he's excited for the caller information centre successful his community.

"If you're archetypal successful the door, you tin power the narrative," Goetz said. "If you're coming up down erstwhile everybody's jumped connected the bandwagon, past you're playing drawback up."

He said the metropolis was fortunate the onshore was available: years ago, the tract was upgraded to go a grow-op, according to Goetz.

"It was going to beryllium a enactment of greenhouses for the grow-up.… So it's a precise almighty site." 

Bell AI Fabric is besides readying to grow its web nationally and is considering locations successful Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, Bibic said.

Data sovereignty

The task has been successful the works for much than a year, according to Bibic, and wasn't in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and annexation threats.

But Bibic said caller events person shown the value of "data sovereignty," which helium described arsenic a three-pronged concept: wherever information resides, who owns the infrastructure and who controls the exertion being used.

"If determination are large geopolitical events that enactment immoderate of that astatine risk, you cognize that we are unafraid successful presumption of the entree of exertion due to the fact that everything's owned, controlled, managed by Canadians, for Canadians."

Bell AI Fabric plans to service probe institutions, universities, start-ups and ample enterprises.

Its archetypal partner, American AI institution Groq (not to beryllium confused with Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok), volition marque a location astatine the archetypal information centre successful Kamloops, wherever it volition enactment with connection processing portion chips.

While Bell chopped its shareholder dividends for the archetypal clip successful 17 years earlier this month, Bibic said the reset would springiness Bell the flexibility to put successful AI exertion solutions.

"This is simply a exertion that indispensable beryllium leveraged successful bid to, benignant of, beforehand economical development."