Meta has unveiled plans to build its first-ever data center in Canada, committing approximately C$13 billion (about US$10 billion) to a massive artificial intelligence infrastructure project in Alberta as the company accelerates its global AI expansion.
The new facility will be located in Sturgeon County, central Alberta, and is designed to deliver an initial capacity of one gigawatt, with the ability to expand to 1.8 gigawatts in the future. Once completed, it will become Meta’s 33rd data center worldwide and one of the company’s largest investments outside the United States.
The announcement was made in Calgary alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and senior provincial officials, who have spent years promoting the province as a destination for large-scale technology investments.
Meta has significantly increased its investment in artificial intelligence in recent years, pledging hundreds of billions of dollars to develop advanced computing infrastructure capable of supporting next-generation AI models and services. The Alberta project represents another major step in that strategy as demand for AI computing power continues to grow worldwide.
Alberta’s Technology Minister, Nate Glubish, described the project as a milestone for the province’s technology sector, while suggesting it is only the beginning of similar investments.
“This is the first of its kind, the first of its size, the first of its scale, but it won’t be the last,” Glubish said, adding that several other large-scale data center proposals are currently under development across Alberta.
The province has emerged as an attractive destination for AI infrastructure because of its abundant natural gas supply, competitive energy prices and cool climate, which helps reduce the cost of cooling high-performance computer systems. These advantages have drawn increasing interest from major technology companies looking to expand their data center capacity.
Meta said it will fully fund the new electricity generation and grid infrastructure needed to power the facility. At full operation, the data center is expected to consume roughly the same amount of electricity as about 800,000 homes.
To reduce its environmental impact, the company says it will offset its electricity consumption through investments in clean and renewable energy projects. Meta also announced that the facility will use a closed-loop liquid cooling system designed to minimize water consumption, with company executives stating that the site’s annual water use will be lower than that of a typical golf course.
The project will be supported through a partnership with Alberta-based Pembina Pipeline, which recently approved the construction of the Greenlight Electricity Centre, a new natural gas-fired power generation facility in Sturgeon County. The plant is expected to begin operations in late 2030 under a long-term electricity agreement with Meta.
Until the new power plant becomes operational, Alberta-based Capital Power will provide 250 megawatts of electricity from its existing natural gas generation facilities to support the project.
According to Pembina, the development is expected to require approximately 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, creating additional demand for Western Canada’s natural gas industry.
The announcement comes shortly after the Canadian government introduced a national artificial intelligence strategy aimed at encouraging the expansion of AI infrastructure across the country. Federal officials have highlighted Canada’s largely low-emission electricity grid as a competitive advantage for attracting future data center investments.
However, Meta’s decision has also sparked criticism from environmental groups. Because Alberta’s electricity system remains heavily dependent on natural gas, environmental advocates argue that the project could significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions despite the company’s commitments to renewable energy investments.
Greenpeace Canada has called for stronger environmental oversight before additional AI data centers are approved. Keith Stewart, a spokesperson for the organization, urged policymakers to introduce stricter regulations, saying there should be “a moratorium on mega-data centers until we have legislated environmental and human rights protections on AI.”
The announcement underscores the growing global competition to build the infrastructure needed to power artificial intelligence, while also highlighting the ongoing debate over balancing technological innovation with environmental sustainability.
Discover more from Scoop Hub
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
