Bell Canada hits construction milestone in Saskatchewan as a 1.2-gigawatt expansion plan takes shape
The $1.7 billion buys the first 300 megawatts. The push to 1.2 gigawatts rests on a non-binding provincial deal, power Bell has yet to secure, and a project the province says was not environmentally assessed.
By the Citi Sighs Intelligence Desk — Toronto, October 8, 2026 (updated October 24, 2026)
TORONTO — Bell Canada and Saskatchewan officials marked a construction milestone on Oct. 1 at the Bell AI Fabric data centre in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood, outside Regina. The province says more than 30 contractors, consultants, suppliers and Indigenous partners are working on the 300-megawatt facility, and Bell expects its first data hall to come online in the first half of 2027.
What the $1.7 billion buys
Bell has said the 300-megawatt first phase will require about $1.7 billion in incremental capital spending, roughly $1.3 billion of it in 2026, funded through debt and cash on hand. That figure covers the initial facility only. Its anchor tenants are AI compute providers Cerebras, which is taking 160 megawatts, and CoreWeave.
The 1.2-gigawatt plan is a plan
On Sept. 14, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Scott Moe announced that Bell intends to quadruple the project to 1.2 gigawatts, with more than $50 billion in expected capital investment. That expansion rests on a non-binding agreement with the province. Only the first 300 megawatts will draw on the provincial grid; the province describes the remaining up to 900 megawatts as a phased development that Bell must power itself under Saskatchewan's Bring Your Own Power principle. Bell has not said publicly how it will generate that power.
Bell also announced a $1 million commitment to mental health support in the Regina area alongside the Oct. 1 milestone.
The other edge: power, water and consent
Ottawa frames the project as sovereign AI infrastructure, and Bell says it builds only against signed contracts. But the risks sit in the parts not yet built. The province has said the project was not environmentally assessed. Data-centre proposals, including Sherwood, have drawn protests at local and provincial town halls, and Oakville, Ont., passed a temporary moratorium in August. New federal voluntary principles say data centres must not shift electricity costs to Canadians and must minimise water use; Bell has not published water-use figures for Sherwood, and Citi Sighs could not verify them. Tenant risk is real too: Groq, anchor of Bell's first AI data centre, was effectively sold to Nvidia in December.
The corridor read
Analysis: Canada is building compute at a scale few countries can match, and the IMF has warned that AI's gains reach only economies with power and digital networks. For founders working between Canada, Ghana and Nigeria, the question is whether Canadian 'sovereign' capacity becomes something West African firms can buy into, or a moat they are priced out of.
Correction
An earlier version of this article said the roughly $1.7 billion cost covered the full 1.2-gigawatt hub and described the 900-megawatt expansion as complete. The $1.7 billion covers the initial 300-megawatt phase; the full expansion is projected at more than $50 billion and rests on a non-binding, phased agreement. Citi Sighs regrets the error.
Sources
CTV News Regina, Bell construction milestone and $1M mental health commitment, Oct. 1, 2026. Cartt.ca, Bell AI Fabric 300 MW data centre (capex figures from Bell), March 2026. The Logic, Bell's Saskatchewan data centre, March 16, 2026, and Bell's non-binding 900 MW deal, Sept. 14, 2026. The Canadian Press via Global News, Bell data centre expansion, Sept. 14, 2026. Reuters via U.S. News, IMF and OECD on the AI divide, Oct. 22, 2026.
Disclosure: This article is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice. Citi Sighs has no commercial relationship with Bell Canada, BCE Inc., Cerebras, CoreWeave or the Government of Saskatchewan. Sections marked Analysis are Citi Sighs' interpretation, not reported fact.