Telus has announced plans to open what it’s calling a ‘Sovereign AI Factory’ in Rimouski, Quebec using Nvidia hardware. The site will be powered by 99 per cent renewable energy and will help Canadians develop AI tools.
The telecom is hoping to provide Canada with the super computing power and the software needed to train AI while keeping data within Canada’s boarders. The Quebec data centre will be outfitted with latest generation Nvidia GPUs setup using Nvidia’s cloud centre reference designs.
Telus says that it’s naturally cooled which should cut water consumption by 75 per cent compared to traditional data centres. The carrier is even going as far to say that the Quebec site will be one of the most sustainable data centres in the world. The site has been operating as a lower class of data centre since 2012 and usually only needs around 40 hours per year of mechanically assisted cooling.
Inside the GPUs will mostly be Hopper and Blackwell class supercomputers which are currently along the cutting edge for AI development. To link up to the internet, Telus is pumping in low latency 100Gbps networking, which should allow remote workers to access significant power from the GPU cluster.
Telus is also highlighting the security of the remote data centre since its over 250km from any major urban centres and it also stores all the data it uses in Canada. On top of that, it’s also using two independent fibre routes to enhance the network’s resiliency.
Image credit: Shutterstock
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