Telus to build massive AI data centres at two Westbank sites in Vancouver | Daily Hive

Telus to build massive AI data centres at two Westbank properties in Vancouver

2026 concept of the 10-storey Telus AI data centre at 150 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Westbank/Telus)

Canadian telecommunications giant Telus is moving ahead with plans to build a major sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure network in British Columbia, following overwhelming demand for its first AI supercomputing facility in Quebec.

The Vancouver-based company announced today that it is working with the Government of Canada and local developer Westbank on a proposed cluster of AI-focused data centres designed to keep Canadian AI computing power and sensitive data within the country. The project forms part of the federal government’s Enabling Large-Scale Sovereign AI Data Centres initiative, aimed at strengthening Canada’s domestic AI infrastructure.

Telus notes the three-site B.C. network will eventually scale to more than 60,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) and 150 megawatts of computing capacity by 2032. The facilities are planned for Kamloops, which is expected to launch later this year, and two locations in Vancouver, which will be fully operational before the end of this decade.

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The infrastructure will be powered by advanced computing systems from NVIDIA, including the company’s latest AI hardware and networking technologies. Telus emphasized Canadian businesses, post-secondary institutions, governments, and other organizations will be able to train and deploy AI models domestically instead of relying on foreign cloud infrastructure.

“TELUS has proven over the past year that sovereign AI infrastructure built on trusted telecom platforms delivers real results; in fact, AI-native companies are already training, deploying, and scaling on TELUS’ NVIDIA-powered platform,” said Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice president of telecom, at NVIDIA.

“This next phase of growth validates how trusted telcos like TELUS become the infrastructure layer of a nation’s economic future.”

The announcement comes less than a year after Telus opened its first Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, Quebec. According to the company, the facility is already fully booked by customers and has been recognized on the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

The company’s Sovereign AI Factory platform is designed to support the full AI development process — from training large-scale models to deploying AI applications — entirely within Canadian-owned and operated infrastructure.

“We are incredibly proud to be working with the Government of Canada to help build Canada’s sovereign AI infrastructure,” said Darren Entwistle, the outgoing president and CEO of Telus, in a statement. Entwistle will retire at the end of June 2026.

“The unprecedented demand that completely sold out our first AI Factory in Rimouski proves that Canadian innovators want cutting-edge AI built right here on Canadian soil. Following this modular, demand-driven approach, we are developing our B.C. sovereign AI cluster as a direct response to that market demand. This will serve a rapidly growing ecosystem of Canadian businesses, entrepreneurs, startups, researchers, public institutions and government organizations that require world-class AI compute without sending their data, intellectual property and competitive advantage outside Canadian borders,” continued Entwistle.

Telus notes the cluster will rely heavily on electricity supplied through BC Hydro. The company has secured an initial 85 megawatts of clean energy and plans to expand capacity over time.

Both facilities in Vancouver are being pursued as a direct partnership with Westbank.

The first new Vancouver AI data centre facility will be achieved at the 1977-built, six-storey M3 office building at 111 East 5th Ave. — home to a portion of Hootesuite’s headquarters office for more than a decade. It will see an initial launch in late 2026, with a gradual expansion through 2028 to reach its ultimate on-site size of 77,000-sq.-ft. data centre — achieved from the full conversion of the building’s office levels and two underground parking levels, plus with the creation of a ground-level restaurant to better serve the area’s office workers.

As part of Westbank’s cluster of buildings in this Mount Pleasant area that form the developer’s Main Alley tech campus of mixed-use office and residential buildings, M3 was originally slated for an eventual renovation for its continued and expanded office uses, including the vertical construction of three additional office floors above the 1970s-built structure. But this pre-pandemic plan is no longer being pursued, with the building’s long-term use pivoting to the Telus AI utility strategy.

Existing condition of the M3 office building at the Main Alley tech campus:

111 east 5th avenue vancouver m3 main tech alley telus ai data centre westbank 11

Existing condition of the M3 office building at 111 East 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan)

111 east 5th avenue vancouver m3 main tech alley telus ai data centre westbank

Existing condition of the M3 office building at 111 East 5th Ave., Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan)

Cancelled office expansion concept for the M3 building within the Main Alley tech campus:

111 east 5th avenue m3 main tech alley office concept cancelled westbank

Previously cancelled office expansion concept for the M3 office building at 111 East 5th Ave., Vancouver, as a part of the Main Alley tech campus. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Wesbank)

Future condition of the M3 building for the Telus AI data centre:

2025 concept for the conversion of the M3 office building at 111 East 6th Ave., Vancouver, into a Telus AI data centre. (WZMH Architects/Telus/Westbank)

The third Telus facility is expected to come online in 2029 at 150 West Georgia St. (formerly 720 Beatty St.), situated at the prominent southeast corner of the intersection of Beatty Street and West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver — right next to BC Place Stadium. It will be purpose-built directly on top of Creative Energy’s expanded and upgraded district energy steam plant that critically provides the bulk hot water and steam heating needs for about 50 million sq. ft. of building floor area in over 200 customer buildings across the downtown Vancouver peninsula, with this service supported by 14 km of underground steam distribution pipes.

In 2020, Westbank received approval for its rezoning application to redevelop 150 West Georgia St. into a 17-storey building with 583,000 sq. ft. of office space over the upgraded Creative Energy plant. However, with the sustained weakness in the office space market emerging out of the pandemic, this project briefly pivoted into a revised design with a mixed-use residential and hotel tower and a large data centre within its base podium levels. Earlier this year, it was noted through a financial update in one of Westbank’s key partners — Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust — that this project would fully pivot to 100 per cent AI-focused data centre uses, with the building reaching 10 storeys.

This major Telus AI data centre will pump its excess heat into the Creative Energy facility below, which will significantly reduce the energy requirements for the steam plant and cut the data centre’s cooling energy consumption by 80 per cent compared to traditional data centres. It will use a closed-loop liquid cooling system, with water consumption targeted to be 90 per cent lower than traditional data centres, including a strategy that incorporates recycled water from BC Place Stadium. Telus estimates the recovered energy directed into the steam plant could heat the equivalent of 150,000 homes.

Existing condition of 150 West Georgia St.:

720 beatty street 150 west georgia street vancouver steam plant creative energy

The existing Creative Energy steam plant at 150 West Georgia St. (720 Beatty St.), Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan)

Cancelled 2020-approved office building concept for 150 West Georgia St.:

720 Beatty Street Vancouver Creative Energy

Cancelled office building concept: January 2019 artistic rendering of the Creative Energy redevelopment 720 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Bjarke Ingels Group/HMCA Architecture & Design/Westbank)

Cancelled 2025-revised, mixed-use residential, hotel, and data centre concept for 150 West Georgia St.:

150 West Georgia Street 720 Beatty Street Vancouver Hotel Data Centre Westbank Align

2025 revised concept for 150 West Georgia St. (720 Beatty St.), Vancouver. (Align Architecture/Westbank)

Future condition of 150 West Georgia St. with the 10-storey Telus AI data centre:

telus ai data centre facility 150 west georgia street vancouver westbank

2026 concept of the 10-storey Telus AI data centre at 150 West Georgia St., Vancouver. (Westbank/Telus)

A provided conceptual artistic rendering released today of this Telus AI data centre building at 150 West Georgia St. suggests that Westbank’s six-storey, 30,000-sq.-ft. standalone entertainment pavilion — featuring restaurants, bars, and other entertainment-focused businesses — will be the only component of the original mixed-use office project to move forward. It will be located immediately adjacent to the stadium within a new plaza area that effectively forms an extension of the stadium’s outdoor concourse.

As well, the data centre building itself could have an exterior screening design that forms a visual mural depiction of the mountains. There would also be extensive greenery plantings on several levels.

Earlier this year, Creative Energy told Daily Hive Urbanized the current major construction project to build the steam plant building’s new plant premises — doubling as the below-grade foundations for the future building development on top of the steam plant — continues to advance. The installation of the equipment, infrastructure, and systems for the new decarbonization plant within the below-grade concrete shell space will begin in late 2026. With this timeline, the decarbonization plant is still a few years away from completion.

Construction progress on the below-grade structure of 150 West Georgia St. (720 Beatty St.), Vancouver, for parking, the Creative Energy plant, and entertainment pavilion, as of Jan. 16, 2026. (Kenneth Chan)

The existing Creative Energy steam plant at 150 West Georgia St. (720 Beatty St.), Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan)

According to Telus, this full multi-location AI data centre project could generate roughly $9 billion in economic activity in B.C. while creating more than 1,000 construction jobs and hundreds of long-term technology and operations roles.

“People toss around the word innovation lightly, but this is a story of true Canadian innovation,” said Ian Gillespie, founder and CEO, Westbank.

“We first became involved in district energy after our success developing a low carbon utility TELUS Garden. After years of R&D, working with our partners at TELUS, BC Hydro, Creative Energy, the City of Vancouver, Province of BC and now the Federal Government, we have arrived at the most elegant low-carbon solution — effectively using every electron twice, to produce environmentally responsible Sovereign AI infrastructure. This, as our Prime Minister would say, is using our values to create value.”

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