Meta (META.US) invests billions in building the first data center in Canada, creating the largest AI base overseas.

Meta platform(META.US) plans to invest approximately $10 billion to build its first data center in Canada, expanding its infrastructure to support its ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence. The data center is located in Sturgeon County, Alberta, and will have a capacity of 1 gigawatt equivalent to the electricity usage of about 750,000 households and will rely mainly on natural gas for power generation. Meta stated that the company is providing funding for this new power facility, which will be connected to the Alberta power grid. During the construction phase, the facility will require 3000 construction workers, and once completed, it will create 300 full-time job positions. According to Gary De Masi, Meta's Vice President of Data Center Development and Strategy, this data center will be the company's largest outside of the United States. The company is expanding its global footprint of data centers to ensure more computing capacity. The project in Alberta marks their 33rd data center. Meta plans to utilize this computing power for their own artificial intelligence models and social media applications (including Instagram and Facebook), while also exploring the establishment of cloud services to sell some of the capacity to other companies. Although CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously announced plans to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the United States by 2030, Canada has recently been making efforts to attract investments crossing its borders to the north. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, elected last year, has pledged to make the country "the best place in the world to build data centers." The country possesses abundant relatively cheap natural gas reserves and hydropower resources. Most of these major projects are concentrated in Alberta, which is a significant source of the country's oil and gas production. Last year, Carney agreed to repeal clean power regulations and emissions limits, which Alberta had previously argued hindered the development of its power industry. Prior to Meta's announcement of this latest data center, midstream energy company Pembina Pipeline Corporation, along with their partners Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Kineticor Asset Management, expressed their plans to move forward with the construction of a $3.2 billion natural gas power plant in Sturgeon County. Meta confirmed that this power plant will support the data center. De Masi stated that the only water required for the project will be for domestic use, fire protection, and some equipment maintenance. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced at a press conference that Alberta has attracted up to $200 billion Canadian dollars (approximately $141 billion USD) in potential data center investments. A company supported by Canadian business personalities and television personality Kevin O'Leary hopes to build a 7.5 gigawatt data center called "Wonder Valley" about 300 miles from the provincial capital Edmonton. The Data District department of Swiss asset management company Alcral AG has partnered with another company to propose the construction of multiple data centers in the province. "With the drive for artificial intelligence needs, the global competition for computing power is intensifying at an unprecedented pace," Smith said. Capital Power, headquartered in Alberta, has signed a long-term energy supply agreement to provide 250 megawatts of power for Meta's data center. CEO of Capital Power, Avik Dey, stated in an interview, "We fully believe that this is a milestone moment for the industry in the province and we anticipate that there will be more projects following this that will be impacted by this," "In many ways, this project confirms that Canada and Alberta are viable jurisdictions for AI computing. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this moment."