Anthropic leases Cape Breton data centre in $10B plan

Anthropic has signed a 20-year lease for space and power at EverWind’s planned data centre campus at Point Tupper, N.S., the company said Friday, making the AI firm the first tenant of a project valued at $10 billion, The Logic reported.

EverWind, a Nova Scotia energy and infrastructure company, called the plan the largest private investment in the province’s history. The Logic reported that more than $8 billion is earmarked for the data centre campus and $2 billion for onshore wind projects.

The first phase is a 95-megawatt facility targeted to open in late 2027. Global News reported that a 325-megawatt expansion is planned for 2028, subject to regulatory conditions, which would bring the site to 420 megawatts.

The wind farms will not be ready when the data centre opens, The Logic reported, so the facility will initially draw on existing electricity infrastructure. A consortium of First Nations led by Membertou Development Corp. is negotiating an ownership stake, the outlet said.

Jacob Glick, Anthropic’s head of Canada public policy, said in a statement that “Canadians are using Claude in growing numbers, and we want our infrastructure to be closer to the people who rely on it.” The company has committed to paying for required grid upgrades, protecting existing customers from related price increases and contributing “tens of millions of dollars” to community priorities, according to The Logic.

Anthropic typically buys computing capacity from large cloud providers. Here it is leasing directly from the site’s owner and energy provider.

EverWind chief executive Trent Vichie said the project would create up to 2,000 construction jobs, followed by 215 operating jobs, Global News reported.

The announcement has drawn opposition. Organizers of a rally on the Halifax waterfront said the project was announced abruptly and that residents were kept in the dark, Global News reported Oct. 17. Megan Boudreau, one of the organizers, said “we already have wells that are drying up in the summertime.”

Aidan Pottie, a Port Hawkesbury resident, said the data centre would draw on Landry Lake, the town’s drinking water source. “You can’t drink data,” Pottie said. Organizers also dispute the job figures and plan a province-wide protest on Nov. 7. Neither source said how much water the facility would use, and the water question remained unanswered in the coverage reviewed.

Premier Tim Houston said the opportunity had been discussed for about a month. “We need more secure infrastructure, more secure data infrastructure,” Houston said, according to Global News.

Provincial NDP Leader Claudia Chender questioned how the government would enforce Anthropic’s assurances and criticized the province for backing the project without public consultation, The Logic reported.

The Nova Scotia project arrives as Ottawa builds its own computing footprint. The federal government has put out an advance notice for a data centre in the Ottawa area that would support the Communications Security Establishment, at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion. Carney also recently named 13 people to the new national AI council, and Toronto’s Cohere is expanding into security with its plan to buy Aisle.

On the energy side, Ottawa recently committed $100 million toward Nova Scotia offshore wind, a separate project from EverWind’s onshore plans.

No formal provincial approval or regulatory decision on the campus has been reported. This is a developing story, and details such as power demand and water use may change as filings are made public.

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Sources: The Logic (Oct. 16), Global News (Oct. 17), Investing.com (Oct. 16), MobileSyrup and CTV News (Oct. 15).