Bell AI Fabric Hillside / TRU

FJI source-qualified: four-document gate met, including project-specific government evidence. Qualification evidence and decisions →

Project status: City commercial building permit issued February 13, 2026; TRU announced construction April 9; CFJC original reporting and site photos confirm construction June 4.. Capacity scope: 26 MW company-planned campus capacity; delivered IT load unverified. How we verify evidence.

Compare this project → · Track its catalysts →

Approximate locality marker. Construction-stage classification does not mean every planned phase is permitted, energized or serving customers.

Investment takeaway

Physical construction and a university anchor make this more concrete than a sovereign-AI pledge. Investment relevance comes through BCE's compute platform, with commercial utilization and power economics still unquantified.

Campus boundary

One distinct McGill Road campus. Excludes nearby Equinix KA1, operating Bell Mission Flats and an unfinalized second TRU proposal.

Power and readiness

Planned hydroelectric infrastructure; no verified energization or campus-specific binding power contract. Closed-loop cooling design does not mean zero energy demand.

Demand and customers

CFJC reports university statement that approximately half the computing capacity supports academic research and the remainder enterprise services; this is not verified contracted utilization.

Milestones

City permit issuance February 13, 2026; university construction announcement April 9; independent construction reporting June 4; late 2027 completion remains target.

Risks

Schedule, cooling electricity demand, commercial customer conversion, unquantified capital/returns, local opposition and uncompleted heat-reuse integration.

What would change the assessment

Occupancy authorization, utility energization, commissioned compute capacity, disclosed customer commitments and quantified project economics.

Unknowns

Project capex and financing terms; supplier contracts; power tariff/service commitment; delivered IT MW; occupancy and delivery date. Network-wide Groq relationship is not a campus-specific hardware contract.

Coverage and scope

Adds a distinct purpose-built sovereign AI campus in interior British Columbia. 1452 McGill Road Hillside campus; excludes operating Mission Flats, Equinix KA1 and unfinalized second TRU proposal.

Financial significance and assumptions

BCE/Bell is operator and AI platform provider; TRU Property Trust is landlord and academic partner; TrueNorth Sustainable Infrastructure Inc is lead developer per TRU. Castanet identifies Hillside Data Centre Inc as lessee/developer and iTel as partner. Corporate relationship between developer entities is not independently established. No contract value, standalone financing close, project earnings or return verified.

Our analysis: construction can precede customer billing and cash returns. No utilization, pricing, margin or project earnings model is assumed. Investment plans, financing facilities and money spent are different quantities.

Listed company connections

• BCE: Bell operator and AI platform provider; campus returns and capital costs unquantified.

Government record audit

City of Kamloops · Record / evidence ↗. Reviewed October 7, 2026.

Identifier

DPM01081; BP054664

Record type

Property information report listing development application and commercial building permit

Applicant / entity

Hillside Data Centre; legal parcel PL EPP58422 LT 1 SEC 1 TWP 20 RGE 18 MER 6; PID 029-892-163

Filed

2025-10-22

Decision

2026-02-13

Status

B-COMMERCIAL permit issued; no occupancy status established

Phase scope

1452 McGill Road / Hillside Data Centre

Conditions / limits

Underlying permit conditions not retrieved; report is not a survey or completion certificate.

Source basis and claim audit

7 distinct reviewed documents. Primary evidence and independent reporting are identified below; syndicated releases count once. Sources establish only the stated claim, not whole-campus completion.

1. City of Kamloops ↗ · Government property/permit record. Published 2026-09-24; event 2026-02-13; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   Lists DPM01081 Hillside Data Centre and BP054664 B-COMMERCIAL application 2025-10-22 issued 2026-02-13. Does not establish occupancy or energization.

2. Thompson Rivers University Community Trust ↗ · Primary institutional disclosure. Published 2026-04-09; event 2026-04-09; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   Construction underway at 1452 McGill Road, final university design review completed, TrueNorth named lead developer, late2027 completion anticipated; future heat reuse capability.

3. Castanet / Josh Dawson ↗ · Independent original local reporting/interviews. Published 2026-05-12; event not separately established; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   TRU-owned property leased to Hillside Data Centre Inc, Bell operating partnership; university interviews discuss closed-loop cooling, energy use and incomplete future heat reuse; second TRU facility not yet formally discussed.

4. CFJC / Victor Kaisar ↗ · Independent original reporting/site photos/interviews. Published 2026-06-04; event 2026-06-04; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   Construction underway; university reports 30000-square-foot AI compute facility and approximate half academic capacity, remainder enterprise services.

5. Bell ↗ · Current company campus footprint. Published date not established; event not separately established; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   Hillside AI Centre at TRU explicitly 26MW planned and hydroelectric-powered; not delivered load or independent power verification.

6. Bell ↗ · Historical company disclosure. Published 2025-05-28; event 2025-05-28; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   Academic training/inference partnership; initial 2026 TRU timing superseded. Groq relationship is network-wide and not verified hardware allocation at this campus.

7. DatacenterDynamics / Dan Swinhoe ↗ · Specialist reporting largely following TRU disclosure. Published 2026-04-14; event not separately established; reviewed October 7, 2026.

   Summarizes construction/late2027 target, distinguishes nearby Equinix site. Not additional independent proof of construction.

Permanent project profile →