Meta Platforms Adds its First Canadian Data Center to Active Projects

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Meta has confirmed that it will build its first Canadian data center in Alberta, joining more than US$19 billion in current U.S. construction and another US$51 billion more worth of projects in Meta's U.S. pipeline.

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A First for Meta

Meta Platforms is moving into Canada. The company announced this week that it will proceed with a hyperscale data center in Alberta, which will join US$19 billion worth of current U.S. construction and another $51 billion worth of projects planned for the U.S., although not all of these may be built as planned.

While Industrial Info Resources data show Meta's Alberta data center project eventually could include up to 10 buildings, Meta has announced an estimated initial spend of around C$13 billion (US$9.1 billion), which would provide for around three buildings. Meta has said the data center initially will consume 1 gigawatt (GW) of power, which potentially could grow to 1.8 GW as the facility expands.

Meta's announcement goes hand in hand with last week's notice from joint venture partners Pembina Pipeline and Kineticor Asset Management that they will proceed with the construction of a large natural gas-fired power plant in the area, with which Meta has contracted a power purchase agreement for the data center's future energy needs.

(Pembina isn't the only oil and gas operator getting in on the action to supply power to data centers. A fully owned subsidiary of Chevron will build more than 1.5 GW and possibly up to 2.5 GW of natural gas-fired power for West Texas data center. Readers can learn more by viewing June 29, 2026, article - Chevron Signs Behind-the-Meter Power Pact with Microsoft for West Texas Data Center.) In Alberta, both Meta's data center and the accompanying power plant are planned for Sturgeon County, a municipal district in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of Alberta's Division No. 11.

Until that arrangement with Pembina and Kineticor begins upon the power plant's completion in the 2030s, Meta will rely on the natural gas fleet of Alberta's Capital Power. Industrial Info Resources data show a fleet of 18 Capital Power generation assets in Canada, including 10 solar, wind and natural gas-fired power generation assets in Alberta.

Meta's U.S. Trends

The Alberta data center project will join billions of dollars Meta is currently investing in U.S. data centers, with substantial amounts also in the planning pipeline. Industrial Info Resources is tracking active Meta data center construction in 10 U.S. states.

While many of these projects are for hyperscale facilities, Meta's construction in Louisiana outshines other its projects in terms of scope. Industrial Info Resources data show that two of nine planned buildings are presently under construction in Richland Parish, leading to more than $28 billion in data center infrastructure alone.

The Louisiana data center will be accompanied by 1,500 megawatts of natural gas-fired power generation from Louisiana-headquartered utility Entergy.

While Meta is active in several other U.S. regions, also warranting special note is the company's substantial spending in New Albany, Ohio, a U.S. data center hotspot where Meta's projects join other current data center construction from Amazon, Vantage Data Centers, Google, EdgeConneX and more. Meta is actively at work on data center buildings at three campuses in the New Albany area, with estimated total spending for past, present and future Meta projects in the region coming to more than $11 billion.

In addition to multiple data center providers in the area, New Albany also is host to two semiconductor fabs being constructed for Intel Corporation, netting a combined $28 billion in investment and expected to be completed in 2030 and 2032.

New Territory

Of the major Big Tech players in the U.S. such as Meta, Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, Meta is the first to propose a large, hyperscale data center in Canada. Amazon has a presence in Alberta and Quebec, but nowhere near the scale that Meta is proposing in Sturgeon County. Industrial Info Resources data indicate Canada's largest data center players include Denver-based Cologix, which has substantial holdings in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and elsewhere, as well as Montreal-based eStruxture Data Centers, which has multiple facilities in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta.

Key Takeaways

• Meta Platforms will proceed with construction of a hyperscale data center in Alberta.
• The facility has a power purchase agreement in place with a nearby gas-fired power plant planned to be constructed by a joint venture of Pembina Pipeline and Kineticor Asset Management.
• The project joins more than US$19 billion of current Meta construction in the U.S. and another $51 billion in various stages of the planning pipeline.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).