2 Canadian Stocks Built for the $1 Trillion Data Centre Boom

AI is turning data centres into a massive power-and-infrastructure boom, and Canadian investors have two very different ways to play it.

Amy Legate-Wolfe

Author Bio

Amy became interested in investing in 2018 after having her first daughter. After receiving a masters degree in journalism from Western University, she became frustrated that the finance industry remained a confusing place for Canadians like her: new parents, millennials, and other young people who needed to understand their finances. Now, Amy focuses on tech companies and renewable energy for growth opportunities, coupling that with long-term investing strategies and equities. She also provides investors with a daily newsletter, Canada Stock Digest, for daily market updates. Her work can also be found at Canada's National Observer, where she writes on the business side of climate action. Before joining Motley Fool Canada, Amy wrote for major news organizations including HuffPost, CTVNews.ca, and CBC. When she’s not researching investing strategies, Amy’s time is pretty much monopolized by her two wild daughters, but in what little spare time she has she loves to do yoga, go on walks with her dog, and travel with her husband.

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Published July 15, 11:45 am EDT

The data centre boom is now so large that $1 trillion almost sounds conservative.

Artificial intelligence (AI) needs chips, software, power, land, cooling, fibre, security, and enough electricity to make utilities sit up straighter. It’s now an infrastructure story with a very large hydro bill.

Data center woman holding laptop — Source: Getty Images

Canada and beyond

The International Energy Agency says data centre electricity use surged in 2025, while AI-focused data centre demand climbed even faster. Its projections show data-centre electricity consumption rising from 485 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025 to 950 TWh by 2030.

The spending numbers look even bigger. McKinsey estimates global data-centre spending could reach $7 trillion by 2030, while JLL described a $3 trillion investment supercycle as AI reshapes the sector. So, yes, $1 trillion is not the ceiling; it may be the warm-up.

Canada is already getting a taste of it, with Ottawa announcing a $1 trillion domestic investment strategy over the next five years. Meta announced plans to build a $13 billion AI data centre in Alberta, its first in Canada, with a facility that could scale from one gigawatt (GW) to 1.8 GW. That kind of project does not just need land. It needs networks, power, permits, cooling, and patient capital.

But beyond FAANG, investors looking for Canadian exposure may want to watch Rogers Communications (TSX: RCI.B) and Hut 8 (TSX: HUT).

RCI

Rogers stock is the steadier infrastructure pick. The company is not a pure data centre operator. In fact, Rogers stock sold its customer-facing data centre business in 2025. Investors should not pretend otherwise, because pretending is how portfolios end up wearing clown shoes.

Still, Rogers stock plays an important role in the broader AI buildout through connectivity. Data centres need high-capacity networks, reliable fibre, wireless backhaul, enterprise services, and secure links between users, clouds, and workloads. Rogers stock owns national wireless and cable infrastructure, which gives it exposure to rising data demand.

The latest results support that steadier case. In the first quarter of 2026, Rogers stock grew total service revenue by 10% and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) by 5%. It also generated free cash flow of $776 million and invested $808 million in capital expenditures, mostly in its networks.

That free cash flow is the number to watch. Rogers stock needs cash to reduce debt, support its dividend, and keep upgrading networks as data use rises. The valuation also looks income-friendly, trading at just 3.6 times earnings. The risk is that Rogers stock remains a telecom first. Competition, debt, regulation, and slower customer growth could weigh on returns. Investors buying Rogers stock for the data-centre boom should see it as a network-and-cash-flow play, not a rocket ship.

HUT

Hut stock is the rocket ship, and yes, rocket ships can explode. It’s moved well beyond its gold and then Bitcoin-mining roots into power-first digital infrastructure. That shift gives it a more direct link to AI data centres, because the bottleneck today is not just computing demand, but access to power and large-scale sites.

The big development came in May 2026, when Hut stock signed a 15-year, 352-megawatt (MW) AI data centre lease at its Beacon Point campus in Texas. The base-term contract value is $9.8 billion, and the deal lifted Hut stock’s total contracted AI data-centre capacity to 597 MW, with about $16.8 billion in overall contract value. So, now, it’s signed long-term leases tied to hyperscale AI infrastructure.

The valuation, though, already reflects a lot of excitement. Hut stock trades with a market cap of around $17.2 billion. This is not a cheap dividend compounder, but a high-growth, high-expectation stock. That means the risks are serious. Hut stock reported a first-quarter 2026 net loss of $253.1 million, and the business still faces execution risk, financing needs, power-market risk, customer concentration, and Bitcoin-related volatility.

Bottom line

For investors, the choice depends on temperament. Rogers stock offers slower, steadier exposure through networks and cash flow. Hut stock offers a more direct but far riskier bet on AI data centre capacity.

The data centre boom is still building. Investors who want exposure do not need to chase every headline, but Rogers stock and Hut stock show two very different ways Canadian stocks could plug into the next wave of digital infrastructure.