Works are underway to convert a former protein-processing plant in Winnipeg, Canada, into an AI data center for Bell Canada.

As reported by CBC, the data center will be part of Bell's "AI Fabric" network, in which the company is establishing several data centers across the country.

The data center is expected to have 5.5MW of capacity at completion, and will see the company investing around $23 million. The plant spans some 94,000 sq ft (8,732 sqm).

Works are currently underway, including modifying the walls of the existing plant so it can serve as a data center, and constructing concrete pads to support the necessary generators, chillers, and transformers.

The site in question is located in the CentrePort industrial development and is the former home of Merit Functional Foods, which processed peas and canola into protein.

The plant originally opened in 2021, having cost some $109.55m to construct, but just two years later, Merit went into receivership. In 2025, former co-CEOs of Merit, Ryan Bracken and Barry Tomiski, purchased back the plant but noted that it was not seeking to restart the site, though they declined to share plans for the facility.

Bell has several AI data centers under construction in Canada, having announced plans for a series of new AI data centers last year. The company is working on a facility in Kamloops, British Columbia, in partnership with Thompson Rivers University, and is developing a 300MW data center campus in Saskatchewan.

Bell is also working with Hive Digital Technologies' Buzz HPC to bring AI infrastructure to the country, with deployments in Merritt, British Columbia, and in Manitoba, Canada.