BCE Inc. is accelerating construction of new data centres in Canada as rising demand for data centre capacity pushes its artificial intelligence initiatives ahead of schedule, according to chief executive Mirko Bibic. Canada’s largest telecom company by revenue launched its Bell Artificial Intelligence Fabric division last year to provide high-performance computing infrastructure, and Bibic said the pace of growth since launch has exceeded his expectations. He described the expansion of Artificial Intelligence Fabric from a standing start in May of 2025 as progressing faster than he had anticipated, reflecting strong interest from customers in Artificial Intelligence-powered services and infrastructure.
The Bell Artificial Intelligence Fabric division is designed to deliver computing power driven by 73 megawatts of electricity, which the company said is enough to power more than 30,000 homes. BCE has partnered with firms including Groq Inc. and Hive Digital Technologies Ltd. on the buildout, with those partners making the bulk of the investment and handling server management. BCE has committed to invest $300 million, and the company said it expects the business will produce about $400 million in revenue by 2028. Bibic emphasized that the company currently has no plans to invest more than it has already announced and said BCE remains disciplined on the $300 million or so of capital expenditures tied to the initiative.
A first data centre under the Artificial Intelligence Fabric banner opened in Kamloops, British Columbia, in June, and another facility in the nearby city of Merritt is scheduled to go live by March, with additional sites slated to start operating later in the year. Bibic argued that Canada can serve as an extremely attractive and neutral location to host data at a time of heightened concern over data sovereignty, and said this positioning could give Bell Artificial Intelligence Fabric a significant edge while operating in Canada. To support its broader Artificial Intelligence strategy, BCE has consolidated earlier acquisitions into an information technology consulting firm called Ateko and launched Bell Cyber, a cybersecurity service that uses Artificial Intelligence to detect and contain digital threats. Altogether, the company’s goal is to generate about $1.5 billion in Artificial Intelligence-powered solutions revenue by 2028, a target it outlined during an investor presentation in October. Bell Artificial Intelligence Fabric has also partnered with Canadian technology unicorn Cohere Inc. to use Cohere’s generative Artificial Intelligence models as part of its offerings.
