Bell Canada's parent company, BCE Inc., is set to invest $1.7 billion in a new artificial intelligence (AI) data centre in Saskatchewan. The 300-megawatt facility will be located in the rural municipality of Sherwood, near Regina, and is expected to be Canada's largest purpose-built AI data centre. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring, with the first phase of operations launching in the first half of 2027.
The project is a collaboration with AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems and hyperscaler CoreWeave, who have already signed on as tenants. Cerebras will utilize 160 megawatts of the facility's capacity, while CoreWeave will use 140 megawatts, running on Nvidia GPUs. BCE anticipates the data centre will generate approximately $12 billion in economic value for Saskatchewan.
BCE CEO Mirko Bibic stated that this investment, the company's largest ever in Saskatchewan, would deliver substantial economic advantages to the province and establish a competitive edge for Canada. The construction phase is projected to create at least 800 trade and engineering jobs, with a minimum of 80 full-time positions upon completion. It is also expected to generate as many as 750 additional community jobs.
While the project is a significant investment, BCE has adjusted its free cash flow guidance for 2026 to no more than $2.3 billion, down from a previous forecast of up to $3.5 billion, due to the project's expense. However, the company anticipates that the data centre will contribute to revenue growth and earnings in the coming years. The facility will come online in stages, with the first stage expected to go live during the first half of 2027. Bell and SaskTel will also partner to offer AI-powered products to SaskTel customers.
