Bell Canada has recently embarked on a significant project aimed at enhancing the country’s AI infrastructure through the launch of Bell AI Fabric, a nationwide network of hydroelectric-powered data centers. This initiative is set to deliver an impressive 500 megawatts (MW) of computing power, potentially establishing Canada’s largest sovereign AI computing capability.

This strategic move is designed to keep Canadian enterprises competitive in the global AI landscape while reinforcing national data sovereignty. Bell AI Fabric is envisioned as a foundational element of Canada’s digital economy, providing advanced computing resources for businesses, researchers, and government entities. This initiative also positions Bell as a comprehensive AI Managed Service Provider, covering everything from infrastructure deployment to the development of strategic AI applications. The program will kick off with a data center supercluster located in British Columbia, with plans for rapid expansion and multiple facilities already in different stages of planning and construction.

In its first phase, Bell AI Fabric will launch two AI inference centers, each with a capacity of 7 MW. The facility in Kamloops, BC, is expected to begin operations in June 2025, followed by another center in Merritt by the end of the year. These centers will utilize Groq’s Language Processing Units (LPUs), designed to provide ultra-fast AI inference performance with lower operational costs, thus proving particularly advantageous for processing large language model workloads.

A key element of the technical foundation for this initiative is Bell’s partnership with Groq. Their LPUs offer substantial benefits over traditional processors, enabling faster inference speeds and lower costs per token. Together with Bell’s existing fiber-optic network, this partnership aims to ensure low-latency and scalable AI performance across various sectors, including data centers, healthcare, and academia.

Mirko Bibic, President and CEO of Bell Canada, highlighted the transformative significance of this initiative for Canada’s AI economy, stating that Bell AI Fabric is crucial for creating secure and sustainable AI computing capabilities nationwide.

The expansion plans do not stop at the initial launch. In collaboration with Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Bell will establish a 26 MW AI data center in Kamloops by 2026, followed by another similar facility in 2027. This partnership will integrate with the BCNET network, providing high-speed connections to computing resources for TRU’s faculty and students, and aims to employ waste heat recovery to power university buildings, showcasing a commitment to sustainability.

Further growth includes two large-scale data centers under advanced planning, with a combined capacity of over 400 MW, also fully powered by hydroelectric energy. These centers are expected to cater to high-density AI workloads and improve regional access to AI computing while mitigating geographical bottlenecks.

Diana Gibson, British Columbia’s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation, expressed enthusiasm for the initiative, noting its potential to establish the province as a leader in the global AI sector by driving technological innovation and creating jobs.

The partnership between Bell and TRU is poised to democratize access to high-performance AI resources, empowering students and researchers. Shannon Wagner, TRU’s interim provost, remarked on the educational benefits, emphasizing that this collaboration will place Kamloops at the forefront of sustainable AI innovation.

Bell AI Fabric is introduced during a period of soaring demand for AI infrastructure, as traditional systems struggle to keep up with the complexity and volume of large-scale language models and machine learning tasks. By focusing on sovereignty, sustainability, and scalability, Bell aims to emerge as a pivotal player in Canada’s AI future, potentially serving as the digital backbone for the next wave of intelligent applications and services firmly anchored within Canadian territory.

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