The Canadian government and Telus jointly announced plans for three advanced AI data centres in British Columbia, marking a major step in expanding the country’s domestic AI infrastructure and economic growth.
- $9 billion in economic activity expected
- Three AI data centres planned in BC by 2029
- Over 50,000 GPUs to support AI workloads
What happened
The Canadian government and Telus have unveiled plans to develop three AI data centres in British Columbia. This announcement includes expanding Telus’s existing Kamloops data centre and building two new facilities in Vancouver—one in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood and another downtown near BC Place stadium. These centres are designed as 'AI factories' that do more than traditional data centres, specializing in AI model training, tuning, and operation.
Why it matters
This initiative is part of Canada’s federally supported effort to build sovereign AI compute infrastructure, reducing reliance on foreign technology providers. The creation of these AI centres aligns with national goals to enhance digital sovereignty, support Canadian research and innovation, and foster economic benefits through large-scale infrastructure investments.
The combined projects are expected to generate approximately $9 billion in economic activity and create 1,000 construction jobs as well as 525 permanent high-skill positions. These developments position Canada as a leader in domestic AI capabilities, supporting advanced AI workloads critical to future technological growth.
What to watch next
Monitoring the integration of these substantial facilities into densely populated Vancouver neighbourhoods will be important given community and infrastructure impacts. Details on how Telus plans to manage these aspects are yet to be disclosed. The M3 facility in Mount Pleasant is projected to open in the fourth quarter of 2026 and expand through 2028, while the larger downtown facility is expected to launch in early 2029.
Further federal announcements may follow as this is the first project to advance under the sovereign AI data centres program, which attracted 160 proposals. Observers will look for additional initiatives supporting Canada’s AI infrastructure ambitions and the long-term economic and technological benefits that come with scalable, energy-efficient AI compute resources.