How would Telus AI factory data centres stack up on sustainability scale?

Westbank rendering of Telus AI data centre at 150 West Georgia St. Photo by Telus/Westbank

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Plans by Telus to build artificial intelligence data centres in Vancouver look modest when compared to massive AI infrastructure in the U.S. that suck up enough electricity to power major cities.

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The centres, one under construction in Mount Pleasant and one to be built downtown, along with an existing data centre in Kamloops, are part of Telus’ $1 billion AI Factory project to provide sovereign, Canadian-owned computing power for the burgeoning industry.

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But the project finds itself at the centre of a global backlash against AI over the environmental impacts of data centres, and the threat the technology poses to jobs and creative industries.

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A group calling itself No AI Data Centres in Vancouver led a protest on May 23 that took over part of downtown for a couple of hours. Some 750 protesters chanted “Use Your Brain” as a rallying cry to encapsulate frustration over the industry’s negative implications.

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Westbank, the developer building the facilities for Telus, promises the centres will “set a new standard” for sustainability.

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Below we look at the data centres in question, concerns around their impact, and AI generally.

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What are data centres and where will they be?

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The first facility, dubbed M3, is a 100,000-sq.-ft. centre being built in the former headquarters of Hootsuite in Mount Pleasant. It will run 13,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), the powerful computing chips used by AI, that will require up to 26 megawatts of electricity. It is set to open at the end of 2026.

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Rendering for future TELUS AI data centre in Mount Pleasant in Vancouver near Main Street and East 5th Avenue. Photo by Telus/Westbank

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The second centre is planned as a 400,000-sq.-ft. facility at 150 West Georgia St. to be built as a 10-storey tower to house up to 50,000 GPUs that would consume up to 100 megawatts of electricity. It is set to come online in 2029.

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Combined with another data centre in Kamloops, the three sites are expected to use 151 megawatts by 2032, enough electricity to power some 80,000 homes.

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What purpose will they serve?

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Telus says the cluster of data centres will “ensure B.C.’s businesses, startups and research institutions are first in line for the most advanced AI capabilities available,” according to an unattributed statement from the company.

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Financial details have not been disclosed, but Ottawa pledged to support the Telus project as part of the government’s sovereign AI strategy. Local experts don’t expect these centres would be of use for industry giants, such as Microsoft or ChatGPT’s parent Open AI.

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“They need (computing power) that is, I don’t know the scale, more than these will provide,” said Rob Goehring, executive director of the AI Network of B.C.

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“It’s going to be a lot of government-regulated industries, Canadian organizations that have data (they need to secure), and I think even small and medium businesses,” Goehring added.

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B.C. is known as Canada’s third largest hub with more than 500 companies, according to Trade and Invest B.C.