Meta plans to construct its first Canadian data center in Alberta, a 1-gigawatt facility costing roughly $9.18 billion that will become the company’s 33rd such site globally. The project in Sturgeon County is expected to support 3,000 construction jobs and 300 permanent positions, with Meta committing $42.4 million toward local infrastructure upgrades.
To power the energy-intensive site, Meta is partnering with Pembina Pipeline to build a natural gas plant scheduled to enter service in late 2030. The tech giant is fully financing the power generation and grid infrastructure itself. The data center will employ a closed-loop liquid-cooling system requiring no operational water.
The investment comes as Meta plans to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion on data centers this fiscal year, even as its stock has declined 8.6% year to date. The company recently debuted Muse Image, its second model under Meta Superintelligence Labs, and is reportedly moving forward with plans to sell excess computing capacity to third-party customers.