The announcement was made with much fanfare at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Monday with Prime Minister Mark Carney in attendance along with two former Prime Ministers—Stephen Harper and Jean Chretien.

Bell Chief Executive Officer Mirko Bibic delivered the news that the company will make a capital investment of more than $50-billion in the A.I. (artificial intelligence) data centre currently under construction in the RM of Sherwood, near Regina.

Bibic says early construction has gone well after the initial project was announced in March.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the investment—the single largest private capital sector investment in Canadian history—will create thousands of jobs for Saskatchewan people. A government news release said the expansion is expected to create up to 500 permanent jobs associated with data centre operations and power generation, as well as an estimated 3,000 additional jobs in areas including security, logistics and maintenance.

Moe says once established, Bell’s AI Data Centre will help strengthen Canada’s sovereignty and data security.

The provincial government released the following as a backgrounder to the main news release. (Above photo: Bell CEO Mirko Bibic)