Canada’s BCE to Build $1.7 Billion AI Data Centre

Canadian telecom firm BCE has announced plans to invest an additional 1.7 billion dollars in a 300‑megawatt AI data centre in Saskatchewan, with AI firms Cerebras and CoreWeave already signed on as tenants. Bell Canada, BCE’s subsidiary, is working with the provincial government to build and operate what it says will be the largest purpose‑built AI data centre in Canada once complete.

The project will be funded through a mix of debt and cash on hand, with BCE expecting around 1.3 billion dollars in capital expenditure in 2026 for construction alone. The facility will be brought online in phases starting in the first half of 2027 and is intended to act as a regional hub for advanced computing, plugging into Bell’s fibre network and partnering with SaskTel to sell AI‑powered services to local customers.

BCE is betting that value in the AI stack will not only sit with chip designers or model developers, but also with the companies that can secure land, power, cooling, and connectivity at scale. By locking in major tenants and positioning the site as national infrastructure, the company is trying to turn a capital‑heavy buildout into a long‑term revenue engine for AI workloads in Canada.