Meta is building its first, big data center in Canada amid AI push

MetaAI expansion is heading north of the border.

The company said in a blog post on Wednesday that it is building its first data center in Canada, a 1-gigawatt facility in the province of Alberta that will cost Meta about $9 billion and take two to three years to build. This is Meta’s 33rd data center overall and the latest in the company’s rapid development efforts to meet demand for AI infrastructure and services.

Alberta, on Canada’s west coast, represents an attractive spot for development due to the province’s large amounts of available energy and friendly regulatory environment. The site’s location in Sturgeon County has long been zoned for industrial use and is in an area with additional energy infrastructure capacity.

“This particular location met the factors we typically look for: good access to infrastructure, a robust electrical grid and access to energy, a strong talent pool, and numerous community partners who are helping us move this project forward,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

As Meta continues its aggressive AI development, the company is also planning a new cloud computing business that could involve selling excess capacity to third parties or offering access to AI models hosted on its own infrastructure. Investors have been skeptical of Meta’s forecast for capital spending this year to be as high as $145 billion, as the company lags far behind AI model leaders OpenAI, Anthropic and Anthropic. Googleand showed no clear way to generate revenue other than online ads.

Meta’s shares are down about 9% this year, while the Nasdaq is up 11%.

Meta races to stand up AI facilities as it competes with hyperscalers Alphabet, Microsoft And Amazonall have thriving cloud infrastructure businesses.

There are also concerns for local communities. A. report In June Canadian Broadcasting Corp. He drew attention to environmental problems such as emissions, water consumption and noise from large data centers.

Meta said it is working with several energy companies in Canada, including Greenlight Limited Partnership, Altalink, Capitol Power and Alberta Electric System Operator, “to plan and meet our energy needs years before the data center comes online.”

The company said the project will support more than 3,000 construction workers at peak and will include investments in local infrastructure and funding for local nonprofits.

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