WATCH: New AI data centres to be built in BC as feds push for 'digital sovereignty'

VANCOUVER — Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon has announced that a number of new data centres will be constructed in British Columbia.

The infrastructure — developed and built in partnership with Telus and Westbank — was touted as an integral step on Canada's journey towards "digital sovereignty."

"It's not one company, it's not one project — it's the infrastructure that Canada needs to compete ... not just in the age of AI, but to build the economy of the future at a time when the political realignment is happening as fast as the technological acceleration," Solomon said during a press conference in Vancouver on Monday.

He explained that in January, the federal government put a call out for "large-scale sovereign AI data centres," and received no fewer than 160 proposals. The Vancouver sites are just the first to be publicly revealed.

The data centres will be located at 150 West Georgia Street downtown, and 111 East 6th Avenue in Mt. Pleasant.

In addition, an existing Telus facility in Kamloops will be expanded and come online in late 2026.

Together, they will have over 60,000 GPUs with a combined 150 megawatts of computing power — all powered by NVIDIA hardware.

"We have to build it," Solomon emphasized. "We can't run a sovereign AI strategy on someone else's servers, governed by someone else's rules, and in someone else's jurisdiction."

He made it clear that "Canadian data, Canadian IP, Canadian economic advantages must remain here in Canada."

Telus CEO Darren Entwistle revealed that the Mt. Pleasant data centre will be opening in the fourth quarter of 2026, and "continue to scale through 2028." The downtown facility will come online in early 2029.

"These AI factories represent the gold standard of sovereign and sustainable infrastructure," he added, "and that is an important duality."

Entwistle argued that the new data centres will be more environmentally-friendly than those elsewhere in the world, citing the plan to recycle energy waste to heat over 150,000 homes in Metro Vancouver.

"In effect, we will use electrons twice," he said. "Once to power the GPUs in our data centres, and another time to power our homes and our lives."

Entwistle also noted that the facilities will "use state of the art, closed-loop, direct-to-the-chip liquid cooling systems, consuming 90% less water than traditional data centres."

The end result, he claimed, would be lower energy costs for residents.

Entwistle added that there's even work being done to "leverage the rainwater collected by the roof of BC Place" to reduce water consumption at the downtown facility to "as close as possible" to zero.

Mayor Ken Sim called the move "an exciting step forward that will see Vancouver emerge as a hub for made-in-Canada innovation that will lead globally."

He suggested having the facilities "in the heart of our city" would attract investment, high-skilled workers, and "ensure Vancouver businesses are first in line for the most advanced AI capabilities available."

"I don't think people understand how significant AI is gonna be in all of our lives, and how fast it's coming," Sim added. "This is way bigger than everyone thinks."

His sentiments were shared by BC Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon, who stressed the importance of building data centres locally to keep Canadian data in Canada.

"We need to build a more independent economy," he said. "All of this takes data — and it takes a lot of it."

Greater Vancouver Board of Trade President and CEO Bridgitte Anderson concluded by arguing that this "reinforces our position as a place where ambitious companies want to invest, where talent wants to stay, and where new technologies can turn into real economic opportunity."