Bell AI Fabric, Cohere, Hypertec and BUZZ HPC announce landmark deal to advance sovereign AI in Canada

This news release contains forward-looking statements. For a description of the related risk factors and assumptions, please see the section entitled "Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" later in this news release.

Announcement reflects growing collaboration among Canadian technology leaders

MONTREAL, June 18, 2026 /CNW/ - Bell Canada (TSX: BCE) (NYSE: BCE), Cohere, Hypertec and BUZZ High Performance Computing (HPC), a subsidiary of Hive Digital Technologies (TSX: HIVE) (NASDAQ: HIVE), today announced a major AI infrastructure deal, marking a significant step forward in the development and deployment of advanced AI workloads on sovereign Canadian infrastructure.

The collaboration brings together Bell AI Fabric's data centre and connectivity foundation, Cohere's secure enterprise-grade AI solutions and large language model capabilities, and BUZZ HPC's scalable accelerated computing infrastructure, powered by NVIDIA's DSX AI factory platform and built on hardware manufactured in Canada by Hypertec.

Together, the four companies will build the conditions needed to conduct the critical R&D needed for AI models – using Canadian infrastructure, with Canadian partners – reinforcing Canada's digital sovereignty and economic resilience.

Today's announcement reflects the growing collaboration among Canadian technology leaders since the launch of Bell AI Fabric and the Canadian Sovereign AI Alliance. As organizations move from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment, demand is increasing for high-performance infrastructure that enables Canadian AI – supporting greater control over data, performance and security, and reinforcing the importance of Canadian-based AI capabilities.

Under the agreement, which builds on previously announced partnerships, Bell will provide data centre capacity and connectivity services from its Merritt, British Columbia facility, purpose-built for advanced AI workloads. BUZZ HPC will deliver the AI-native cloud layer using Hypertec's Canadian-built hardware cluster and NVIDIA accelerated computing to support production-grade AI workloads, while Cohere will use the platform to operate its foundation models and support secure enterprise-grade AI solutions for government and enterprise customers.

The announcement further reinforces Bell AI Fabric's role in supporting sovereign AI – bringing together connectivity, data centres, compute, professional services and cybersecurity to create a platform for Canadian organizations and global innovators operating in Canada.

As demand for AI continues to grow, Bell AI Fabric, Cohere, Hypertec and BUZZ HPC will support customers seeking a high-performance Canadian AI stack with strong economics for providers and enterprises.

Quotes

"Canada has the talent and innovation to lead in AI – what's been missing is the ambition to bring the right ingredients together. This landmark deal helps close that gap. Through our partnership, Cohere will operate its AI models in Bell AI Fabric infrastructure, enabled by the combined capabilities of Hypertec and BUZZ HPC. This agreement underscores the role Bell AI Fabric is playing in helping organizations move from experimentation to production on infrastructure that is located, operated and governed in Canada."

- Michel Richer, President, Bell AI Fabric

"For enterprises and governments, adopting AI is not just about having access to powerful models. It's about knowing where those models run, how data is protected and whether the technology can be deployed with the security and reliability their work requires. This collaboration gives Cohere another way to support customers in Canada with advanced AI that is built for real use, on infrastructure that reflects Canadian priorities."

- Michael Pelosi, Country Manager, Canada, Cohere

"Advanced AI infrastructure requires highly engineered systems, deep technical talent and expertise, and the ability to deploy and support these solutions at scale. As an NVIDIA OEM partner, Hypertec delivers many of the industry's most advanced AI server platforms, with the ability to optimize architectures for customers' specific AI and HPC workloads. Through this partnership, we are combining cutting-edge compute infrastructure with the deployment, integration, and service capabilities required to operate next-generation AI environments reliably and efficiently."

- Don Schlidt, President, Hypertec HPC & AI, HCM

"AI does not scale on ideas alone, it scales on data centres, specialized GPU compute, sophisticated models and operational execution. This partnership brings together a combination of capabilities that does not exist anywhere else in Canada today: Bell's national platform, Cohere's world-class enterprise AI models, Hypertec's Canadian-built GPU servers, and BUZZ's AI factory expertise and sovereign AI cloud powered by NVIDIA's full-stack AI factory platform. The early momentum behind this partnership has been overwhelming because it solves a real national gap: giving Canada the sovereign AI infrastructure required to turn ambition into impact. For Canadians, this means building the infrastructure to use AI responsibly, improve lives and compete globally. Canada helped invent modern AI. Now we are building the factories to power it."

- Craig Tavares, President and COO, BUZZ HPC

"Canada cannot compete in the global AI economy without the infrastructure, talent and partnerships to support it. This collaboration brings those elements together – linking infrastructure, compute, and advanced AI capabilities in a way that helps support organizations strengthen control over data and innovation. It reflects the strength of Canada's AI ecosystem and the importance of continued collaboration among innovators to ensure that economic growth, jobs and intellectual property are developed and retained here at home. This is the kind of progress we need to strengthen Canada's position in a rapidly evolving global landscape."

- The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

About Bell
Bell is Canada's largest communications company¹, leading the way in advanced fibre and wireless networks, enterprise services and digital media. By delivering next-generation technology that leverages cloud-based and AI-driven solutions, we're keeping customers connected, informed and entertained while enabling businesses to compete on the world stage. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

¹ Based on total revenue and total combined customer connections.

About Cohere
Cohere, founded 2019, is a security-first enterprise AI leader building foundation models and end-to-end products to solve business problems. We partner with organizations to deliver seamless integration, customization and user-friendly solutions. Our all-in-one platform provides maximum security, privacy and deployment flexibility across clouds, private environments and on-premises. Headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, Cohere operates additional offices in London, New York, Montreal, Paris, and Seoul, serving customers worldwide.

The company has raised ~$1.6BUSD from strategic tech investors (AMD Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Oracle, Cisco), institutional investors (Radical Ventures, Inovia Capital, PSP Investments, HOOPP, BDC, Nexxus), and AI pioneers including Geoffrey Hinton, Fei-Fei Li, Pieter Abbeel and Raquel Urtasun. For more information, visit cohere.com.

About Hypertec
Founded in 1984, Hypertec's mission is to bring expertise, innovation, and strong partnerships to transform challenges into opportunities for sustainable growth through technology solutions. Trusted by industry leaders across AI, financial services, healthcare, public sectors and others, Hypertec serves clients in over 80 countries and empowers them to push boundaries and lead their industries through transformative technology. For more information, please visit www.hypertec.com.

About BUZZ HPC
BUZZ High Performance Computing (BUZZ), a wholly owned subsidiary of HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. (TSX: HIVE, NASDAQ: HIVE) (the "Company" or "HIVE"), delivers enterprise-grade cloud services and large-scale GPU clusters in vertically integrated data centres. Proudly Canadian, BUZZ is building sovereign AI factories while operating across 9 time zones and 3 continents. The platform supports a suite of managed services, including Kubernetes, Slurm, virtual machines, and bare-metal deployments optimized for AI, machine learning, and scientific workloads. Headquartered in Canada with a global reach, BUZZ is one of the first and few Canadian sovereign AI platforms operating at scale. Since 2017, it has deployed supercomputing environments across Canada and the Nordics. Its AI Factories are powered entirely by renewable energy and engineered with ultra-low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) host thousands of industrial-grade GPUs across North America, South America and Europe used for AI model training, fine-tuning and inference.

Through its Green GPU initiative, BUZZ combines AI innovation with sustainability, offering localized expertise and global infrastructure.

Learn more at https://www.buzzhpc.ai

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements made in this news release are forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expectations regarding the agreement and the collaboration between Bell, Cohere, Hypertec and BUZZ HPC, including the anticipated impact thereof on sovereign Canadian AI infrastructure and other expected benefits thereof, the ability of Bell, Cohere, Hypertec and BUZZ HPC to support customers seeking a high-performance Canadian AI stack with strong economics for providers and enterprises, expectations regarding the ability to operate and power AI, Canada's AI ecosystem and the ability of Canada to compete in the global AI economy and other statements that are not historical facts. All such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable Canadian securities laws and of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on several assumptions which give rise to the possibility that actual results or events could differ materially from our expectations. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events, and we caution you against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release describe Bell's expectations at the date of this news release and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Bell does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this news release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Forward-looking statements made in this news release, including the anticipated impact and the benefits of the agreement and the collaboration between Bell, Cohere, Hypertec and BUZZ HPC, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and are based on certain assumptions including, without limitation, the availability and performance of advanced computing infrastructure and the demand by Canadian enterprise and government organizations for Canadian-based AI infrastructure and solutions. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the anticipated impact and the expected benefits of the agreement and collaboration will be realized. For additional information on assumptions and risks underlying certain of the forward-looking statements made in this news release, please consult BCE Inc.'s (BCE) 2025 Annual MD&A dated March 5, 2026, BCE's First Quarter MD&A dated May 6, 2026 and BCE's news release dated May 7, 2026 announcing its financial results for the first quarter of 2026, filed with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities (available at sedarplus.ca) and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (available at SEC.gov). These documents are also available at BCE.ca.

Media inquiries:

Bell

Matt Silver
[e-mail]

Cohere

Patrick Allen
[e-mail]

Hypertec

Sarah Andrews
[e-mail]

BUZZ HPC

Nathan Fast
[e-mail]

Investor inquiries:

Bell

Kris Somers
[e-mail]

SOURCE Bell Canada (MTL)