Bell AI expansion puts data centre headquarters in Regina area

Saskatchewan has approved an expansion of Bell’s planned AI data centre, and the province puts the estimated total capital investment at more than $50 billion.

Premier Scott Moe and Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic announced it on September 14. Crown Investments Corporation Minister Jeremy Harrison, in the same release, called it a “$52 billion expansion”. The two figures do not match, and the release does not reconcile them.

Under the plan, 300 megawatts keep coming from the provincial grid. Bell will supply up to 900 more megawatts on its own, added in phases, which is what the province’s Bring Your Own Power principle allows. Saskatchewan says that could reach 1.2 gigawatts once those phases are built out.

The province expects up to 500 permanent jobs tied to running the data centre and its power generation, plus roughly 3,000 more in areas including security, logistics and maintenance. About 100 management positions are attached to the planned headquarters in the Regina area, listed separately from those figures.

The project was approved under the Data Centre Framework the province released in August 2026. That framework sets six principles. They include Canadian ownership and a Canadian headquarters, data sovereignty, local jobs and partnerships, and a single provincial intake point run by Crown Investments Corporation with the Ministry of Trade and Export Development.

Moe said the arrangement keeps Canadian data stored by a Canadian company. Municipal permits and bylaws still apply, and the province says an Environmental Impact Assessment may be required.