Meta Flees U.S. Red Tape, Builds $9B AI Data Center in Canada

Meta announced a C$13 billion ($9.1 billion) AI data center in Alberta, Canada, its first in the country and largest outside the U.S., citing cheap energy and favorable regulations. The 1-gigawatt campus in Sturgeon County will support over 3,000 construction jobs and draw power equivalent to 800,000 homes. The project highlights Meta's shift away from U.S. red tape.

Meta just announced a C$13 billion $9.1 billion AI /economy/ai-is-coming-for-the-degree-class-not-the-trades data center in Alberta — its first in Canada and the largest outside the United States — and the reason it's not being built in America is staring every American worker in the face: cheap energy and regulators who don't treat industry like a sin. The 1-gigawatt campus in Sturgeon County, northeast of Edmonton, will support more than 3,000 construction jobs at peak and draw roughly as much electricity as 800,000 homes once operational. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government spent years courting Silicon Valley, and the pitch was straightforward: abundant, affordable natural gas, a cold climate that cuts cooling costs, and a regulatory framework built to welcome investment rather than strangle it. Alberta's Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish called the project