Facebook and Instagram parent Meta said Wednesday it will invest more than $9.1 billion to build its first artificial intelligence data center in Canada and its largest outside the U.S.
The facility will be built in Sturgeon County, Alberta, and powered by a natural gas-fired plant being developed by a consortium that includes Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Ltd.
Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish called the project "a big deal for Alberta,” saying the province had created a regulatory framework to attract data center investment.
Alberta has been courting hyperscale data centers as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure surges. But the rapid growth of AI has fueled concerns about the vast amounts of electricity and water such facilities require, as well as their strain on power grids and nearby communities.
Because Alberta’s electricity grid cannot support multiple large AI data centers, the province is prioritizing projects that build or secure their own power generation, as Meta plans to do.
