Telus pulls out of two Vancouver AI data centre projects with Westbank

Telus has pulled out of two planned AI data centres in Vancouver that it was to build with developer Westbank, both companies confirmed to Daily Hive. "TELUS has decided not to proceed with co-developing two previously announced Vancouver data centres with Westbank," a Telus spokesperson said. Westbank said it is "proceeding with a new partnership" and will continue both projects with a partner it has not yet named.

The two sites, a new 10-storey building at 150 West Georgia St. next to BC Place and a conversion of the six-storey M3 office building in Mount Pleasant, are part of the federal government's initiative for large sovereign AI data centres. When the partnership was announced in May, Telus said it had secured an initial 85 MW of power from BC Hydro for a three-site network with its Kamloops facility, with capacity expected to pass 150 MW by 2032.

Telus says it is still expanding Kamloops to 20 MW by the end of 2028 and is looking for partners and locations elsewhere in British Columbia. The change follows the departure of chief executive Darren Entwistle in June; Victor Dodig replaced him. A public consultation on the M3 rezoning runs from December 2 to 15.