Anthropic Reportedly in Talks to Lease Beacon's Planned Data Centre Campus Near Edmonton
The Globe and Mail, citing two unnamed sources, says Anthropic is negotiating to be the tenant of a Sturgeon County campus powered by a 920-megawatt gas plant. Neither company would comment.
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Anthropic is in talks to lease a planned hyperscale data centre campus in Sturgeon County, northeast of Edmonton, The Globe and Mail reported on October 30. The report cites two unnamed sources. Anthropic and developer Beacon Data Centers declined to comment, so neither company has confirmed the talks.
Illustrative photo: a rural road in Alberta, Canada. Image: Ezra Jeffrey / Unsplash via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
What the Globe reported
According to the Globe, Anthropic is negotiating with Calgary-based Beacon to be the tenant of a proposed project in Alberta's Industrial Heartland. The paper said its two sources were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Globe's other details come from regulatory documents rather than the sources:
| Detail | What the Globe reported |
|---|---|
| Buildings | Four data halls for AI and high-performance computing, per documents Beacon filed with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) on July 17 |
| Power | A 920-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant |
| Approval | The AUC approved the power plant proposal on October 23 |
| Timeline | Construction expected to begin in Q4 2026, with service in Q4 2027, per the AUC decision |
The Globe said the Beacon campus would have about double the power capacity of the Nova Scotia site Anthropic announced this month.
DailyMech has not reviewed the AUC decision itself.
Who is Beacon
Beacon is a young developer. Venture capital firm Nadia Partners launched Beacon AI Centers, also known as Beacon Data Centers, at the turn of 2025, according to DatacenterDynamics. The company said it planned to energize Alberta sites as early as 2027 and listed Sturgeon County among its locations.
The 920-megawatt figure also appears in Canada's federal Impact Assessment Registry. A comment from a Sturgeon County resident describes the Beacon AI Centers Heartland Project as a 920-megawatt natural gas power generation facility and AI data centre complex about 7 km east of Gibbons. That is a public comment, not an official filing.
The project has faced a long approval path. In December 2025, Sturgeon County's director of economic growth and innovation, Mark Morrissey, told Taproot Edmonton that the county had granted Beacon a master site development permit, but several municipal and provincial approvals remained for a data centre and a co-located power plant. "I would ballpark it at 2027 or 2028 at the earliest," he said. The October 23 power plant approval reported by the Globe would be one of those steps.
Anthropic's Canadian push
The talks would follow Anthropic's first Canadian data centre agreement. On October 16, Reuters reported that Anthropic had signed a lease with EverWind for capacity at Point Tupper, Nova Scotia. EverWind said it planned to invest more than C$10 billion in the campus and wind power projects.
The Globe reported that EverWind's project would be built in two phases totalling 420 megawatts. It added that, beyond Nova Scotia and Sturgeon County, it is not clear whether Anthropic is pursuing other Canadian sites.
Sturgeon County already hosts one large AI project. Meta is building its first Canadian data centre there, a 1-gigawatt facility that the company says represents an investment of more than C$13 billion.
Why it matters
If the talks lead to a lease, a single AI company would be drawing on the output of a dedicated 920-megawatt gas plant in one Alberta county. Reuters noted that data centres have faced criticism over their heavy power and water use. The resident who commented in the federal registry cited insufficient notice, health effects, natural resources and property values.
The deal is not confirmed. Neither company has spoken publicly, and the Globe's account rests on two sources. DailyMech will update this story if either company comments.
What to watch:
- Whether Anthropic or Beacon confirms a lease.
- Whether construction on the power plant starts in Q4 2026 as planned.
- The federal impact assessment process and any further public comments.
More coverage is on our Artificial Intelligence hub.
How we reported this
We read The Globe and Mail's report directly. The talks rest on its two unnamed sources and are unconfirmed. Regulatory details are as reported by the Globe; we did not review the AUC decision. Background on Beacon comes from DatacenterDynamics, the county timeline from Taproot Edmonton, the Nova Scotia lease from Reuters, and Meta's project from Meta. The registry comment is one resident's submission.
Published and fact-checked October 30, 2026.
Sources
- The Globe and Mail, report on Anthropic and Beacon, Mariya Postelnyak and Kate Helmore, Oct. 30, 2026: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-anthropic-ai-talks-to-lease-beacon-data-centre-near-edmonton-alberta/
- Reuters via The Star, Anthropic EverWind lease report, Oct. 16, 2026: https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2026/10/17/anthropic-signs-lease-for-first-canadian-data-center
- Taproot Edmonton, "The Pulse: Dec. 11, 2025": https://edmonton.taproot.news/pulse/2025/12/11
- DatacenterDynamics, Beacon AI Centers report, May 16, 2025: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/canadas-beacon-ai-centers-appoints-josh-schertzer-as-ceo-as-company-targets-49gw-roll-out
- Canadian Impact Assessment Registry, public comment on the Beacon AI Centers Heartland Project, May 21, 2026: https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/90123/contributions/id/66914
- Meta Newsroom, July 8, 2026: https://about.fb.com/news/2026/07/breaking-ground-on-metas-first-data-center-in-canada/
DailyMech used AI tools to help research and draft this article; it was fact-checked by our editors.