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Proposed expansion would quadruple the Regina-area project to 1.2 gigawatts, with 900 megawatts of new capacity powered by natural gas
By EnergyNow Media | September 14, 2026
Bell Canada and the Saskatchewan government have announced plans to dramatically expand Bell’s artificial-intelligence data centre development near Regina, potentially creating a 1.2-gigawatt AI infrastructure hub supported by more than $50 billion in total capital investment.
The proposal would add as much as 900 megawatts of computing capacity to the 300-megawatt Bell AI Fabric data centre already under construction in the Rural Municipality of Sherwood, immediately outside Regina.
If fully developed, the project would become one of Canada’s largest artificial-intelligence infrastructure developments and the largest private-sector capital investment in Saskatchewan’s history.
“Today, we’re announcing that we’re expanding that project, quadrupling it,” Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic said at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto. “It will now be a 1.2-gigawatt facility at full buildout, requiring $50 billion in capital investment.”
The Saskatchewan government referred to the proposal as a $52-billion expansion. Bell said the combined investment—which would include data centre buildings, computing equipment installed by tenants and associated power-generation infrastructure—could exceed $50 billion.
However, the expansion is not yet a final investment decision. Bell and the Saskatchewan government have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding, and development will proceed in phases as Bell secures customers, commercial agreements, regulatory approvals and any required environmental assessments.
Natural gas to power 900-megawatt expansion
The energy component is one of the most significant elements of the announcement.
The original 300-megawatt data centre will receive electricity from SaskPower through a dedicated industrial connection. The proposed additional 900 megawatts would be supplied by new, off-grid natural gas-fired generation developed specifically for the Bell project.
Bell says the new generation would be operated and paid for by the company through an experienced third-party power partner, in consultation with SaskPower, SaskEnergy and TransGas. The arrangement is intended to prevent the expansion from drawing additional electricity from Saskatchewan’s provincial grid or increasing power costs for residential customers.
Saskatchewan’s recently introduced Data Centre Framework requires qualifying large projects to follow a “Bring Your Own Power” principle. Other requirements include Canadian ownership, Canadian headquarters, data sovereignty, local employment, operating experience and centralized provincial oversight.
For Saskatchewan’s energy sector, the proposed facility represents a potentially important new source of long-term domestic natural gas demand.
A 900-megawatt power plant operating at consistently high utilization could consume a substantial volume of natural gas, depending on the technology, efficiency and operating configuration selected. It could also create opportunities for Saskatchewan gas producers, pipeline operators, power developers and service companies.
Neither Bell nor the Saskatchewan government has yet identified the power-generation partner, the type of natural gas technology that would be used, the anticipated fuel requirements or the project’s emissions-management strategy.
Those details will become increasingly important as the project moves through environmental, regulatory and commercial review.
Hundreds of permanent jobs
Bell estimates that the full development could support between 800 and 1,200 construction, engineering and technical jobs.
The company projects up to 600 permanent operations and management positions, including approximately 100 jobs associated with establishing the headquarters of the Bell AI Fabric national ecosystem in the Regina area.
As many as 3,000 additional jobs could be created away from the project site in areas such as security, logistics, maintenance, technology services and supply-chain support, based on the experience of comparable data centre developments in other markets.
Bell says it plans to work with Saskatchewan suppliers, Indigenous partners and post-secondary institutions to develop local skills and supply chains. The initial development reportedly has about 80 per cent of its workforce drawn from Saskatchewan and involves 32 Saskatchewan and Prairie-region companies.
“This historic investment will create thousands of good jobs and new opportunities for Saskatchewan people,” Premier Scott Moe said.
“It will also strengthen Canadian data sovereignty by keeping Canadian data here at home, stored by a Canadian company and protected under Canadian rules.”
Bell headquarters coming to Saskatchewan
The decision to establish Bell AI Fabric’s head office in Saskatchewan gives the announcement importance beyond the construction of the physical campus.
Bell is positioning AI Fabric as a Canadian-controlled network through which governments, researchers and businesses can access advanced computing infrastructure while keeping sensitive information under Canadian jurisdiction.
“Canada’s next generation of economic growth will be built on Canadian infrastructure,” Bibic said.
“By creating a path to 1.2 GW of AI capacity in Saskatchewan, Bell AI Fabric will give governments, businesses, researchers and innovators the secure, sovereign foundation they need to deploy AI at scale and compete globally.”
The original 300-megawatt project was announced in March 2026 with an initial Bell investment of approximately $1.7 billion. Its broader projected economic value—including computing equipment supplied by tenants, employment, taxation and related activity—was estimated at as much as $12 billion.
Cerebras Systems and CoreWeave were identified as the initial computing-technology providers. Cerebras is expected to supply its wafer-scale AI computing systems, while CoreWeave will provide scalable computing capacity using Nvidia graphics-processing units.
Initial data halls are scheduled to begin entering service in early 2027, with the original four data halls expected to be operating by the end of that year.
Bell has not released a firm construction schedule for the additional 900 megawatts.
No municipal water for cooling
Water consumption has become a major point of controversy for data centre developments across North America, particularly in agricultural regions and communities facing water constraints.
Bell says its Saskatchewan facilities will use sealed, closed-loop cooling systems that transfer heat to air-cooled equipment. According to the company, the cooling system will not use municipal water or groundwater during normal operations.
Bell has also committed to paying for project-specific road and site-access improvements.
Municipal permits and bylaws will still apply, while individual phases may require environmental assessments under Saskatchewan legislation.
A major test of Canada’s investment ambitions
The announcement came as Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed hundreds of international investors to the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto.
The federal government is seeking to attract $1 trillion in investment over five years in energy, critical minerals, transportation, technology and other strategic infrastructure. Bell used the summit to present the Saskatchewan expansion as an example of a large Canadian project capable of combining private capital, energy infrastructure and advanced technology.
The proposed Bell expansion also highlights the growing connection between artificial intelligence and energy development. AI data centres require large amounts of reliable, around-the-clock power—placing provinces with abundant natural gas, available land, cooler climates and expandable electricity systems in a potentially competitive position.
For Saskatchewan, the opportunity could extend well beyond a single data centre. If Bell secures the customers and financing needed to complete the expansion, the province could emerge as one of Canada’s leading centres for AI computing, Canadian data storage and gas-fired digital infrastructure.
But the sheer scale of the proposal also means its execution will matter as much as its headline value.
The $50-billion-plus figure assumes full buildout and includes tenant-owned computing equipment and associated energy infrastructure. The expansion remains subject to customer commitments, commercial agreements, permitting and environmental review.
Bell itself cautioned that there is no guarantee the development will proceed in its entirety or deliver all the projected economic benefits.
Even with those qualifications, the announcement represents a potentially transformative development for Saskatchewan—and one of the clearest examples yet of how Canada’s natural gas resources could help power the country’s emerging AI economy.
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