Bell Canada’s Merritt, B.C. data centre will play a central role in a new sovereign AI partnership involving Cohere, Hypertec, and BUZZ High Performance Computing.
The companies announced a deal this week to build Canadian AI infrastructure that combines Bell’s data centre and network assets, Cohere’s enterprise AI models, Hypertec’s Canadian-built hardware, BUZZ HPC’s cloud platform, and NVIDIA accelerated computing.
The partnership is designed to give Canadian enterprises and governments access to advanced AI capabilities running on infrastructure located, operated, and governed in Canada.
Bell said its Merritt facility is purpose-built for advanced AI workloads and will provide the data centre capacity and connectivity for the project. BUZZ HPC will operate the AI-native cloud layer using a Hypertec-built hardware cluster, while Cohere will use the platform to run foundation models and support secure AI solutions for enterprise and public-sector customers.
The announcement follows Bell’s launch of Bell AI Fabric and the Canadian Sovereign AI Alliance, both of which are focused on building domestic infrastructure for AI adoption.
For Canadian organizations, the pitch is straightforward: access to high-performance AI infrastructure without moving sensitive workloads outside the country.
Michel Richer, President of Bell AI Fabric, said the partnership will help organizations move AI projects from experimentation into production on Canadian infrastructure.
Cohere Country Manager for Canada Michael Pelosi said enterprises and governments need confidence not only in the quality of AI models, but also in where they run, how data is protected, and whether the infrastructure can meet security and reliability requirements.
Hypertec, founded in 1984, will provide the Canadian-manufactured AI and high-performance computing server platforms behind the deployment. Don Schlidt, President of Hypertec HPC & AI, said the partnership brings together the compute infrastructure, deployment expertise, integration, and service capabilities needed to support next-generation AI environments.
BUZZ HPC, a subsidiary of HIVE Digital Technologies, will contribute its sovereign AI cloud and AI factory expertise. BUZZ President and COO Craig Tavares said AI “does not scale on ideas alone,” but on data centres, GPU compute, models, and operational execution.
The announcement also drew support from Evan Solomon, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, who said Canada needs infrastructure, talent, and partnerships to compete in the global AI economy.
As AI workloads become more compute-intensive and data-sensitive, the deal points to a larger shift in Canada’s digital infrastructure market. Data centres are no longer just hosting facilities. Increasingly, they are becoming the foundation for national AI capacity.