Government of Canada welcomes Bell's sovereign AI infrastructure investment in Saskatchewan
The Government of Canada welcomes Bell Canada's planned expansion of its Bell AI Fabric capacity in Saskatchewan: up to 900 megawatts of new capacity, charting a path to a 1.2-gigawatt AI infrastructure hub, with capital investment of up to $52.5 billion and 4,500 jobs — the largest capital investment in the province's history. Ministers Solomon, Hodgson, and Joly frame it as sovereign computing governed by Canadian laws, part of federal work with provinces and energy providers exploring up to six gigawatts of new data centre capacity. Development is to follow Canada's Responsible Data Centre Development Principles, with project specifics awaiting community engagement.
The Canadian Sovereign AI Compute Strategy is Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada's plan for spending the $2 billion over five years that Budget 2024 allocated to domestic AI computing capacity. It was announced in Ottawa on 5 December 2024 by François-Philippe Champagne, then Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, following a public consultation that ran from 26 June to 6 September 2024 and drew input from more than 1,000 stakeholders across research, industry, and civil society.
Organizations
- ISED — organizer