Telus, Nvidia announce AI-investment plans in Kamloops

Photo: KTW

The Telus data centre in Kamloops

Canadian telecommunications giant Telus is announcing upgrades to its facility in Kamloops alongside a new "sovereign AI factory" being constructed in Quebec with Nvidia.

The companies say they will provide Canadian businesses and researchers with the supercomputers and software they need to train AI while keeping their data within the country's borders.

Telus plans to deploy Nvidia's latest-generation AI semiconductors at its data centre in Rimouski, Que., by this summer, with plans to expand at its Kamloops, B.C., facility once the initial capacity is exhausted.

The Vancouver-based firm says it is to be the first North American service provider to become an official Nvidia cloud partner.

The Rimouski site is to be powered 99 per cent by renewable energy sourced from Hydro-Quebec.

Telus says the Quebec facility, 250 kilometres from a major urban centre, is highly secure and a good option for customers seeking a core or disaster recovery site.

"Collaborating with Nvidia gives us the advanced computing capabilities needed to drive Canadian AI innovation while strengthening Canadian digital independence," Telus chief information officer Hesham Fahmy said in a news release.

Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has a stock market value of almost $3 trillion and is second only to Apple on the S&P 500 index.

“Sovereign AI infrastructure is critical for every nation to advance their society and economy, while preserving their own data, enabling them to drive a local intelligence revolution with global technology advancements," Ronnie Vasishta, senior vice-president of telecom at Nvidia, said in the news release.

The Telus announcement came on the same day Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a keynote speech at his company's annual flagship GTC AI conference in San Jose, Calif.