The federal government is planning a data centre in the Ottawa area for the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s signals intelligence agency. The cost is pegged at $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, according to a Defence Construction Canada notice first reported by CTV News Ottawa and covered by MobileSyrup.
CSE says the project supports its “mid- to long-term objectives” and ties it to broader defence investments, to “modernize the secure infrastructure and capabilities needed” for national security. It declined to share technical requirements. There’s no timeline yet; it depends on finalized plans.
The notice landed alongside $500 million in new federal AI funding. It also came about a month after Ottawa released a data centre framework that isn’t legally binding on companies like Google, Microsoft, Bell and Telus.
Why it matters: As the government builds up sovereign compute and national security capacity, more of Canada’s most sensitive data will run in facilities it controls rather than in U.S. clouds. The trade-off is cost and power demand. Expect questions about energy use and oversight as the project moves forward.
