The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Bell Canada said it will open six data centres in British Columbia equipped to power artificial-intelligence models and applications, just a few years after it sold off a group of data facilities. The Globe's Joe Castaldo writes that the first of the data centres will come on-line in June in Kamloops, with the second opening in Merritt by the end of the year. Two more will open in the next two years, with one scheduled for 2026 at Thompson Rivers University. Altogether, Bell said its data centres will have the capacity for up to 500 megawatts of electricity, a substantial load that has been secured. Upon completion, the facilities will make up the largest AI computing cluster in the country, according to Bell. The federal government last year announced a $2-billion spending package over five years to help Canadian companies and researchers access AI computing power. TD Cowen analyst Vince Valentini said in a note Wednesday that questions remain about BCE's spending. He estimated the full data centre buildout could cost a few billion dollars. In 2020, BCE announced the sale of 25 of its data-centre facilities to U.S. company Equinix for just over $1-billion.