Meta to build its first $13B data centre in Canada
Meta has announced plans to build its first Canadian data centre, a $13-billion facility in Quebec, aiming to bolster its AI and cloud computing infrastructure. The project is expected to create hundreds of jobs during construction and operations.
Background
Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) is spending CAD $13 billion to build its first Canadian data centre in the City of St-Jean-Baptiste-de-Lachenaie, near Montreal, Quebec. The facility will be a "greenfield" project (built from scratch on undeveloped land) and is expected to be one of Meta's most energy-efficient sites, targeting LEED Gold certification. The announcement comes amid a broader AI infrastructure spending race among Big Tech firms, as training and running large language models requires massive computing power. Quebec is attractive because its hydroelectric grid offers cheap, clean energy, which both lowers operational costs and helps Meta meet its sustainability commitments. The project reportedly received favourable tax treatment from the provincial government.