Satellite Imagery Confirms Bell's 300 MW AI Campus Is Under Construction in Saskatchewan

Pléiades-Neo satellite image of Bell's AI Fabric data centre campus under construction in Sherwood, Saskatchewan, near Regina, on May 9, 2026, showing cleared and graded earth next to an existing SaskPower substation

Key takeaways

Bell's 300 MW Bell AI Fabric campus in Sherwood, Saskatchewan (part of Regina) is under construction as of May 9, 2026, confirmed by satellite imagery, consistent with the 2026 construction start Bell guided in its March 16 investor primer.
The campus is 100% pre-sold under long-term, non-cancellable contracts to Cerebras and CoreWeave, who supply and fund all compute hardware, so Bell takes no chip or technology-obsolescence risk and guides to roughly 20% project-level IRR and over $250 million of run-rate free cash flow.
The widely cited ~$12 billion "project value" is mostly tenant-funded compute, not Bell's spend: Bell's own capital commitment is about $1.7 billion of infrastructure, roughly $1.3 billion of it in 2026.
Bell's capital is front-loaded ahead of revenue: it cut 2026 free-cash-flow guidance by more than $1 billion for the build, revenue does not begin until the second half of 2027, and the contracts rest on two tenants, including a newly public Cerebras.
Bell secured the bulk of power through SaskPower and TransGas on a site next to an existing SaskPower substation, and has line of sight to roughly 800 MW at the location over time, starting with this 300 MW.

Bell has broken ground on a 300 MW AI data centre campus in Saskatchewan, and Aterio has confirmed the start from orbit. Pléiades-Neo imagery captured on May 9, 2026 shows active earthwork on the Bell AI Fabric site in Sherwood, on the edge of Regina and next to an existing SaskPower substation. Site work began roughly two weeks earlier, in late April, which matches the 2026 construction start Bell laid out in its March 16 investor primer.

The build is real and the capacity is already spoken for, pre-sold to Cerebras and CoreWeave. The figure attached to the project in headlines deserves a closer read: the roughly $12 billion "total project value" is mostly compute hardware the tenants are funding, not Bell's own spend. What Bell is committing, and when, is a smaller and far more front-loaded number.

What the satellite shows

The May 9 image shows a large rectangular pad cleared and graded out of farmland, with access roads, a laydown area, and the existing SaskPower substation immediately to the west. This is the groundwork phase, earthmoving rather than vertical construction, the stage that comes before foundations and steel.

Figure: Bell AI Fabric campus construction progress as of May 9, 2026, in Sherwood, Saskatchewan, next to an existing SaskPower substation. Captured via Pléiades-Neo satellite (© Airbus DS). Image analysis by Aterio.

Aterio has also tracked the site from orbit across 2026. A Copernicus timelapse shows the parcel go from snow-covered and empty in January to cleared and graded earth by June.

Sentinel-2 satellite timelapse of the Bell AI Fabric site in Sherwood, Saskatchewan, from January 8 to June 22, 2026, showing the parcel go from snow-covered farmland to cleared and graded earth

Figure: Bell AI Fabric site, January 8 to June 22, 2026, from snow-covered baseline to cleared and graded earth. Captured via Sentinel-2, sourced through Copernicus. Image analysis by Aterio.

Observable from the imagery:

Site footprint: a large graded pad cleared out of agricultural land, with access roads and a laydown yard established.
Power adjacency: the existing SaskPower substation sits directly west of the parcel, the connection point for the campus.
Stage: earthwork and grading, with no vertical buildings or structural steel visible as of May 9, 2026.
Timing: site work began in late April 2026, ahead of any operational milestone and in line with Bell's guided 2026 start.

The deal: 300 MW, pre-sold, tenant-funded

Bell AI Fabric is a different model from the hyperscaler-owned campuses Aterio usually tracks. Bell provides the real estate, cooling, and connectivity, and passes the cost of power straight through to tenants. Cerebras and CoreWeave take the capacity under long-term, non-cancellable contracts and supply and fund the compute hardware themselves. Bell owns no chips and carries no exposure to AI pricing, utilization, or technology obsolescence: its cash flows are meant to look like contracted infrastructure, not a compute business.

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Of the ~$12B project value, only ~$1.7B is Bell's

The roughly $12 billion total project value cited at the March 16, 2026 announcement is mostly tenant-funded compute hardware; Bell's own infrastructure capital is about $1.7 billion, roughly 14 percent of the total. Figures as announced.

SOURCE: The roughly $12 billion total project value cited at the March 16, 2026 announcement is mostly tenant-funded compute hardware; Bell's own infrastructure capital is about $1.7 billion, roughly 14 percent of the total. Figures as announced.

Site plan for Bell's AI Fabric campus in Sherwood, Saskatchewan, showing four data centre phases, an existing SaskPower substation, a private substation, a future natural gas generation plant, and adjacent parcels reserved for future data centres

Figure: Bell AI Fabric proposed site plan, showing the four-phase 300 MW campus next to the existing SaskPower substation, a private substation, a future on-site natural gas generation plant, and two adjacent parcels reserved for future data centres. Source: Bell AI Fabric investor primer, March 16, 2026 (BCE).

The contracts carry real downside protection: monthly charges billed in advance, upfront tenant set-up fees and prepayments, and what Bell describes as counterparties with strong access to capital. There is also a sovereign angle. Bell can allocate a meaningful share of the capacity to Canadian government, research, and enterprise workloads, with data kept in Canada, which it frames as additional upside on top of the signed contracts.

Project parameters:

Capacity: 300 MW of utility power, fully contracted; land fully owned by Bell.
Tenants: Cerebras and CoreWeave, who supply and fund all compute hardware.
Bell's role: real estate, cooling, and connectivity, with power passed through at utility rates.
Power: bulk secured through SaskPower and TransGas, next to an existing SaskPower substation; the Saskatchewan grid runs on a mix of gas, hydro, and coal.
Expansion: two adjacent parcels reserved for future data centres, part of a roughly 800 MW line of sight at the site.

Source: Bell AI Fabric investor primer, March 16, 2026 (BCE).

The economics, and the $12 billion question

Saskatchewan officials put the total project value at roughly $12 billion at the March 16 announcement. That figure is real, but it is not Bell's investment. It includes the compute hardware that Cerebras and CoreWeave are buying. Bell's own capital commitment is about $1.7 billion of infrastructure. Reading the $12 billion as Bell's bet overstates the company's exposure by roughly seven times.

Even that $1.7 billion overstates the cash Bell puts in. It is partly offset by about $400 million of upfront tenant set-up fees and prepayments, leaving a net cash outlay closer to $1.3 billion.

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Bell's net cash outlay after tenant prepayments

Bell's roughly $1.7 billion of infrastructure capital is partly offset by about $400 million of one-time tenant set-up fees and prepayments, leaving a net cash outlay of about $1.3 billion. Figures per the BCE investor primer.

SOURCE: Bell's roughly $1.7 billion of infrastructure capital is partly offset by about $400 million of one-time tenant set-up fees and prepayments, leaving a net cash outlay of about $1.3 billion. Figures per the BCE investor primer.

The timing is the second catch. Roughly $1.3 billion of Bell's $1.7 billion is spent in 2026, but revenue does not start until the second half of 2027. Bell cut its 2026 free-cash-flow guidance to a range of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion, from $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion, with the data centre build the main reason, a swing of more than $1 billion in the year before the asset earns anything. At full run-rate the project is designed to return: about $500 million of revenue, about $400 million of adjusted EBITDA, over $250 million of free cash flow, and roughly a 20% project-level IRR, on a structure Bell calls leverage-neutral.

The third catch is concentration. All 300 MW sits with two tenants, and one of them, Cerebras, only just entered the public markets. The contracts are non-cancellable and the counterparties are well-capitalized, but infrastructure-like cash flows still depend on those two customers paying for the better part of a decade.

Power and schedule

Power is the reason the site exists. Bell secured the bulk of it through SaskPower and TransGas and put the campus next to an existing SaskPower substation, with a private substation and a future on-site natural gas generation plant in the plan. The location was chosen for proximity to power and redundancy, and for room to grow: Bell has line of sight to roughly 800 MW at Sherwood over time, of which this 300 MW is the first tranche.

The schedule is where the opportunity and the catch meet: capital is front-loaded into 2026, while revenue does not begin until the second half of 2027.

◉ SCHEDULE

Capex front-loads into 2026; revenue waits until H2 2027

Bell AI Fabric build and cash-flow schedule: construction began in April 2026 and runs in phases through 2027, with capital spending front-loaded into 2026 (about $1.3 billion of the roughly $1.7 billion) while project revenue only begins in the second half of 2027. Future dates are company guidance.

SOURCE: Bell AI Fabric build and cash-flow schedule: construction began in April 2026 and runs in phases through 2027, with capital spending front-loaded into 2026 (about $1.3 billion of the roughly $1.7 billion) while project revenue only begins in the second half of 2027. Future dates are company guidance.

Bottom line

Bell AI Fabric is a clean version of the contracted-infrastructure model: a 300 MW campus, fully pre-sold, with the compute risk pushed to the tenants and a confirmed construction start to back the timeline. The catch is that the money is Bell's now and the revenue is the tenants' problem later. About $1.3 billion goes out in 2026, the first dollar of revenue arrives in the second half of 2027, and the whole structure rests on two customers, one of them freshly public. The $12 billion headline is mostly their hardware, not Bell's balance sheet.

The things to watch are concrete: the first vertical construction and the private substation on later imagery, the phase-by-phase energization into 2027, and any expansion toward the 800 MW the site is sized for. Aterio will track each capture against those markers, the same way we track single-site AI campuses like Red Butte in Utah and the broader U.S. hyperscaler buildout.

Aterio tracks data centre projects across North America in real time, from early filings and utility records to satellite-confirmed construction. Explore Aterio's latest Data Center Report for project pipeline analysis, or schedule a call to see how our data can support your investment analysis.