Canada Data Center Buildout
anders@anders
−8.0%
since Sep 30
The idea
I believe Canada is set to become a major hub for the data center buildout, thanks to cold winters that lower cooling costs, abundant hydro and gas power, and cheap land, with ex-Bitcoin miners leading the near-term shift into AI hosting. The basket spans the whole stack: power producers, compute operators, suppliers and builders, and telecoms building sovereign AI infrastructure, all listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq. I keep a small cash buffer and avoid concentrating too heavily in any single name, treating this as a multi-year theme rather than a quick trade.
What it owns
- Data centers require electricity before anything else, and power producers earn on new load whether or not they operate the facilities themselves. · TransAlta CorporationIt sells Alberta power to data centers and gets paid on new load regardless of which operator wins the hosting contracts., Brookfield Renewable CorporationIt owns hydroelectric power that makes Canadian data centers cost-competitive and signs long-term power deals with AI buyers., Brookfield Infrastructure PartnersIt owns power lines, pipelines, and data centers, collecting revenue from multiple angles of the buildout., Fortis IncIt is the regulated utility that builds out grid infrastructure to support new data center load, offering steady returns., Enbridge IncIts pipelines feed Alberta gas plants that power new data centers, earning on the buildout without picking an operator., TC Energy CorporationIt moves gas and owns power generation that new data center load would run on, earning from pipeline and generation demand.32%
- Cold-climate sites with access to cheap power represent the highest-upside way to own a data center buildout, especially when former mining operations pivot to AI hosting. · Hut 8 CorpIt operates cold-climate Canadian sites that are shifting revenue from Bitcoin mining toward AI hosting as data center demand grows., IREN LimitedIt runs compute sites on abundant British Columbia hydro, combining cold winters and cheap power to host AI workloads., HIVE Digital TechnologiesIt is transitioning cold-climate mining sites toward high-performance computing and AI hosting revenue.25%
- Hardware makers and engineers collect revenue on every data center buildout regardless of which operator ultimately wins the hosting contracts. · Celestica IncIt builds the AI networking hardware that goes into data centers and gets paid on every buildout regardless of which operator wins., Stantec IncIt designs data center buildings and infrastructure, earning engineering contracts on every buildout in Canada., ATS CorporationIt sells automation that goes into building and running data centers, getting paid on every buildout regardless of operator.22%
- Canadian telecoms building domestic AI data centers offer a steadier ownership stake in the buildout through direct operations and customer contracts. · TELUS CorporationIt is building sovereign Canadian AI data centers for domestic customers, offering a steadier layer of ownership in the buildout., BCE IncIt is building AI data centers through Bell, moving from announcements to operating facilities with paying customers.13%
- Cash8%