Bell to quadruple Saskatchewan AI hub capacity to 1.2GW

Bell has shared details about its planned expansion of a major AI hub in Saskatchewan.

The expansion could provide up to 900 megawatts of new capacity. This quadruples the original 300MW facility to a 1.2-gigawatt facility.

When it’s completed, the total capital investment, including infrastructure, tenant compute, and power generation, could exceed $50 billion. It’ll also support 800 to 1,200 construction, engineering and technical jobs, and create up to 600 permanent operations and management roles. The company says that it could create as many as 3,000 additional offsite and community jobs as a result of a large data centre deployment.

Bell is also working with Saskatchewan suppliers, Indigenous partners and post-secondary institutions, and will help build local skills and supply chains “while creating infrastructure and expertise that remain in the province for decades to come.”

Bell has offered some details about the expansion of this data centre. The company says that the additional capacity would come from partner-developed power generation from gas. And similar to all Bell AI Fabric projects, the facility would use closed-loop cooling, which requires no municipal water.

And due to the expanded partnership with Saskatchewan, Bell AI Fabric will establish a head office in Saskatchewan, “placing the province at the heart of Canada’s AI economy.”

The NDP critic for technology, Brittney Senger, as per CBC, accused the Saskatchewan Premier of aligning with “CEOS and tech bros,” but ignoring the concerns of the Saskatchewan people, considering where the power will come from and how much water is needed for the project. Bell said no municipal water will be used for the closed-loop cooling system, though the company didn’t say where it would source water from.

For added context, closed-loop cooling systems use low- or zero-water, reducing water usage significantly compared to traditional evaporative cooling. Closed-loop systems circulate the same water (or other cooling liquids) through a closed loop, so no liquid is lost to evaporation like in other cooling systems.

The Canadian government says that it’s working with provinces, Canadian energy providers and leading technology companies to assist with the private investment required to make infrastructure at this scale. Additionally, it’ll be exploring opportunities that could support up to six gigawatts of new data centre capacity and more than $100 billion in potential investment across Canada.

Bell AI Fabric is the company’s investment that will create Canada’s largest AI compute project. The company calls it “Sovereign AI infrastructure, built by Canadians, for Canada.” Bell is also working to bring six data centres to B.C. 

Source: Bell