Telus has provided more information about the Canadian AI factories it announced earlier this year.

According to the Canadian telco, the two factories will be located in the company’s existing data centers in Rimouski, Quebec, and Kamloops, British Columbia.

While the Rimouski AI factory is slated to go online in summer 2025, a timeline for the company’s planned expansion of its Kamloops site has not been provided, but will reportedly take place after the Rimouski site has gone live.

Per the initial announcement about the AI factors, made in March 2025, Telus will deploy Nvidia Hopper and Blackwell-based supercomputers at the facility, making it one of the first companies to have access to the next-generation chips in Canada.

According to a report from BetaKit, the first phase will see up to 500 Hopper GPUs in a 10,000 sq ft (929 sqm) module at the Rimouski facility, with the telco saying it has the capacity for six additional modules for future expansion.

The site in Quebec will be supported by the telco’s PureFibre network and powered by 99 percent renewable energy sources. Both facilities will also use “natural cooling,” which Telus says will cut water consumption by 75 percent, when compared to “traditional data centers,” while “purpose-built infrastructure optimized for AI workloads” will make the facilities three times more efficient for excess power usage, “eliminating over 300 tons of carbon emissions.”

“Our sovereign AI factories are the first of their kind in Canada and represent a key step forward in our country’s AI journey,” said Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of Telus. “These powerful and secure facilities will ensure every piece of data, every computation, and every breakthrough will be born and remain within our borders.”

He added: “This initiative will strengthen our nation’s ability to develop advanced AI technology and increase productivity, empowering homegrown businesses and Canadian researchers to innovate courageously and compete on the global stage.”

Telus’ Rimouski data center came online in 2012. At the time, the company stated it would develop the facilities gradually over the course of 20 years, planning five expansions on the data center. However, in 2017, the company delayed plans to expand the facility, saying its requirements hadn’t grown enough to justify an extension.

Meanwhile, the telco’s Tier III, 215,000 sq ft data center in Kamloops has a PUE of 1.15.