Meta Platforms announced plans to build a 1 gigawatt data center in Alberta, Canada — its first major facility in the country — at an estimated cost of $9 billion, as the company races to expand AI infrastructure capacity.
Meta Platforms is bringing its AI infrastructure expansion to Canada, announcing plans on Wednesday to build a 1 gigawatt data center in Alberta's Sturgeon County at an estimated cost of approximately $9 billion.
The facility, which the company said will take two to three years to construct, will be Meta's 33rd data center overall and its first large-scale build in Canada.
Alberta drew the company's interest for a combination of reasons, including abundant available energy, a regulatory environment favorable to large industrial development, and proximity to existing infrastructure. The Sturgeon County site has been zoned for industrial use for years and sits in an area with capacity to support additional energy buildout.
"This specific location met the factors we typically look for: good access to infrastructure, a robust electric grid and access to energy, a strong pool of talent, and a great set of community partners that helped us move this project forward," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
The company said the project will support more than 3,000 construction workers at peak activity and will include investments in local infrastructure along with funding directed to area nonprofits.
Meta said it has already coordinated with several Canadian energy partners — including Greenlight Limited Partnership, Altalink, Capitol Power, and the Alberta Electric System Operator — to plan for the facility's energy requirements well ahead of the center coming online.
The announcement comes as Meta races to expand AI computing capacity against hyperscalers Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, all of which operate established and profitable cloud infrastructure businesses. Meta has been building toward a cloud computing offering of its own, with plans that could include selling excess capacity to third-party customers or providing access to AI models hosted within its infrastructure.
Even as Meta accelerates its buildout, investors have expressed skepticism about the company's capital expenditure trajectory. Meta has projected up to $145 billion in capital expenditures for the current year — a figure that has drawn scrutiny given that the company has trailed AI model leaders OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google and has yet to demonstrate a clear revenue path beyond online advertising. Meta's stock has declined roughly 9% this year, while the Nasdaq has gained approximately 11% over the same period.
Environmental considerations have also emerged as a point of tension. A June report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. raised concerns about emissions, water consumption, and noise generated by large data centers — issues that have surfaced in communities across North America as major technology firms accelerate infrastructure spending.
The Alberta announcement underscores the extent to which AI-driven demand for computing power is reshaping where and how technology companies invest in physical infrastructure, with Canada's energy resources and relatively permissive regulatory climate making it an increasingly attractive destination for hyperscale development.
TechEchelon Staff bylines are produced collectively by the newsroom for short, breaking, and wire-style coverage. Longer-form reporting is published under the responsible reporter's name.
More from the Staff →The European Commission adopted a nine-measure cybersecurity and AI action plan on July 7, aiming to reduce the bloc's dependence on foreign frontier AI systems after U.S. export restrictions temporarily cut off EU customers from models including OpenAI's GPT-5.6.
OpenAI will publicly release its GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, and Luna models on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Commerce cleared the company to proceed, ending a roughly two-week restricted rollout requested by the government.
A study published in the Journal of Financial Planning found that seven widely available AI platforms delivered inconsistent, inaccurate, and potentially biased personal finance recommendations, raising concerns as two-thirds of American AI users report turning to the technology for financial guidance.
Written for readers who already know the basics — markets, AI, and the policy decisions that shape both.