Bell and Cohere Bring Sovereign AI to Canadian Data Centres
Bell Canada and enterprise AI company Cohere have entered a partnership to deliver sovereign, full-stack AI solutions for public and private sector clients.
The move brings Cohere’s LLMs and secure agentic AI tools into Bell’s AI Fabric platform, which includes some of the country’s largest sovereign data centre infrastructure.
Under the agreement, Cohere’s models will be offered via Bell AI Fabric for Canadian government and enterprise users, maintaining strict compliance with security, privacy and data residency requirements.
In turn, Bell will become Cohere’s preferred Canadian AI infrastructure provider, while Cohere becomes Bell’s preferred provider of LLMs and agentic AI systems.
“At a critical time for Canada, we're proud to partner with Cohere to create a sovereign, full-stack AI solution, custom-built to support Canadian government and business,” says Mirko Bibic, President and CEO, BCE and Bell Canada.
“Working together, we will both transform Canadian businesses through cutting edge AI capabilities, while ensuring that the data remains secure and within Canada.”
Sovereign AI built on data centre scale
At the heart of the partnership is Bell’s AI Fabric platform, which is anchored by sovereign AI data centres operating on the country’s largest fibre network.
The data centre infrastructure underpins a four-layer architecture comprising hardware, software, services and applications.
On the hardware layer, Bell operates AI data centres with a focus on data sovereignty and operational resilience.
The software layer includes Cohere’s LLMs, customised for Bell to provide unique features tailored to the Canadian market. Machine learning tools and cloud software are also integrated.
The services layer is led by Ateko, Bell’s professional and tech services division. Ateko provides deployment, automation and cloud transformation for enterprise clients.
The fourth layer includes AI applications for business and consumer use, including Cohere’s North platform—a system that allows organisations to build and deploy agentic AI without managing their own model infrastructure.
“Bell AI Fabric offers Canadian organisations access to world-class AI capabilities, all delivered with end-to-end security,” says Aidan Gomez, Co-Founder and CEO of Cohere.
“Our partnership with Bell Canada will provide the Canadian government and enterprises with world-class options for sovereign, security-first AI. This has the potential to be truly transformative for organisations looking to massively increase their productivity and efficiency without any compromise on data security and privacy.”
Cohere’s North platform now integrated
One of the core technologies entering Bell’s ecosystem is North, Cohere’s agentic AI platform.
The platform enables government and enterprise users to build AI agents for internal operations and customer services, while maintaining full control over data residency and security.
The integration also allows organisations to automate workflows, reduce manual work and improve operational efficiency—all without needing to manage AI model infrastructure.
Bell is also rolling out North internally. The platform will allow its employees to develop proprietary agents based on Bell data to automate routine tasks and deliver managed services to clients.
These in-house deployments will serve as reference cases for Ateko’s work with government and business customers.
The partnership also strengthens Canada’s position in sovereign AI development by ensuring that critical AI infrastructure and models are developed, hosted and operated entirely within national borders.
“These companies exemplify the spirit of Canadian ingenuity and are solidifying Canada's sovereign AI capabilities,” says The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation.
“This partnership will help strengthen our position on the global stage and pave the way for a brighter, more advanced future for the Canadian economy.”
By combining Bell’s data centre infrastructure and telecom reach with Cohere’s model architecture, the partnership sets out to provide a secure, full-stack AI platform built specifically for Canadian regulations and market needs.
The combination of agentic AI and sovereign infrastructure allows Canadian data centre operators to host advanced workloads without compromising on privacy, operational control or compliance.
