Buzz High Performance Computing (Buzz HPC), a subsidiary of Hive Digital Technologies, has partnered with telecoms operator Bell Canada to deploy Nvidia-based AI infrastructure in the country.
The agreement will see Buzz HPC provide access to Nvidia Ampere, Hopper, and Blackwell GPU clusters via Bell AI Fabric – an initiative launched by Bell Canada in May to support the development of AI data centers in Canada.
A 5MW deployment in Manitoba is slated for later this year, with plans for the partnership to expand into additional Bell AI Fabric data centers across multiple provinces at a later date. Buzz said the deployments are designed to support “a wide range of national objectives,” including building sovereign AI, providing nationwide access to advanced AI tools, enhancing innovation across Canada, and supporting sustainable AI development.
“Buzz and Bell are sovereign by design, built to protect privacy and deliver trusted performance for innovators of all kinds,” said Craig Tavares, president and COO, Buzz HPC. “As a sovereign AI provider and Nvidia Cloud Partner, our integration with Bell AI Fabric ensures secure, scalable access to accelerated computing across Canada, empowering innovators to build globally competitive AI while maintaining full control over their data.”
Dave Salvator, director of accelerated computing at Nvidia, added: “Sovereign AI infrastructure provides Canada’s industries with essential computing to grow productivity, foster innovation, and create economic opportunities. Buzz HPC’s Nvidia infrastructure provides a high-performance AI computing backbone to drive innovation through Bell AI Fabric.”
When announcing the launch of Bell AI Fabric earlier this year, Bell Canada said that in its first phase, the project would see the construction of six data centers across British Columbia, supported by 500MW of hydroelectric power.
These included a 7MW facility in Kamloops, BC, operated by AI inference provider and chip designer Groq. This was due to come online by June 2025.
Another 7MW data center will open in Merritt, BC, is expected to go live by the end of this year, while two 26MW data centers are also planned for Kamloops, with the first opening later this year at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and a second coming in 2026.
Two additional AI data centers with a combined capacity of more than 400MW are also in “advanced planning stages” with stakeholders, the telco said back in May.
Hive (formerly Hive Blockchain) was founded and went public in 2017. The crypto firm has mining sites in Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay.
Originally known as Hive Cloud, Buzz offers access to Nvidia H100s, A6000s, A5000s, A40s, and H200s. Its cloud currently totals 2.2MW of capacity across Stockholm, Sweden (800kW) and Montreal, Canada (1.4MW). Hive acquired a 7.2MW data center in Toronto earlier this year for Buzz’s use.