Hypertec Expands AI Infrastructure Manufacturing in Canada, Powered by VAST Data

‍Hypertec to manufacture VAST-powered EBoxsystems in Montréal, with a first C$22 million deployment for BUZZ HPC

MONTRÉAL, September 17, 2026 – Hypertec today announced that it is collaborating with VAST Data, the AI Operating System company, to manufacture VAST-powered EBox systems, high-performance storage platforms for AI and data-intensive workloads, at its Montréal facility.

The first deployment,valued at approximately C$22 million, is for BUZZ High Performance Computing(BUZZ HPC). It builds directly on Hypertec's role in the sovereign AI infrastructure initiative announced in June by Bell Canada, BUZZ HPC and Hypertec, extending that partnership into high-performance data infrastructure.

Today's announcement extends a rapidly growing manufacturing platform for Hypertec. In April 2026,Hypertec's Ciara Technologies division became the first Canadian NVIDIA OEM Partner manufacturing systems in Canada; with this VAST qualification, Hypertec becomes the one of the few OEM manufacturing partners certified to build EBox systems for the VAST AI Operating System. Together, the two certifications position Hypertec among a small number of manufacturers building sovereign AI infrastructure (both compute and storage) at scale from Canada.

The relationship with VAST itself is not new: in January 2025, Hypertec Cloud selected VAST as the data platform for its planned deployment of up to 100,000 GPUs across North America. Today's agreement extends that relationship into Hypertec's manufacturing business.

"The performance of an AI environment depends on much more than the GPUs," said Simon Ahdoot, CEO, Hypertec. "The data has to move fast enough to keep thosesystems productive. Adding VAST-powered EBox systems to our portfolio gives us another important component of the infrastructure our customers need, and one we can manufacture and deliver from Montréal to markets around the world."

Hypertec will manufacture and configure the systems in Montréal for the VAST AI Operating System. The systems are intended for workloads including AI model training and inference, real-time analytics, large unstructured datasets, high-performance computing and cloud infrastructure.

The VAST AI OperatingSystem provides the data infrastructure foundation for GPU-intensive AI and HPCenvironments, delivering the performance and scale required to keep acceleratedcomputing systems productive.

“AI infrastructure isincreasingly being built as an integrated system, where compute is only as productive as the data infrastructure supporting it,” said Phil Manez, Vice-President, Strategic Initiatives at VAST Data. “Hypertec brings the manufacturing expertise and scale to deliver VAST-powered EBox systems as partof that broader AI infrastructure stack. With BUZZ HPC already deploying these systems, we have a strong proof point for how this partnership can support customers in Canada and around the world.”

The sovereign AIinitiative announced in June brought together Bell AI Fabric's data center andconnectivity infrastructure, and BUZZ HPC's GPU infrastructure, built onsystems manufactured in Canada by Hypertec. The addition of VAST-powered EBoxsystems brings high-performance data infrastructure into that broader environment.

“Building AI at scale requires many pieces working together behind the scenes. Bell AI Fabric provides the data centre and connectivity foundation, while partners across the ecosystem contribute the technologies and expertise to turn that infrastructure into real-world AI solutions", said John Watson, Group President, Business Markets, AI Fabric, Bell Cyber and Ateko. “By expanding the range of AI infrastructure technologies that can be manufactured in Canada, this strengthens the ecosystem that supports AI innovation and deployment across the country.”

That principle plays out directly inside BUZZ HPC's environment, the first customer for the new VAST-powered EBox systems, where the economics come down to keeping GPU compute productive.

“An idle GPU is one of the most expensive assets in an AI infrastructure stack. When organizations are investing millions of dollars in accelerated compute, the objective isn’ tsimply to deploy GPUs — it’s to keep them productive. Storage and data movement are critical to that equation. The faster we can feed GPUs with the right data, the higher the utilization and the better the return on every dollar invested in AI infrastructure. Solutions like VAST’s, delivered through partners like Hypertec, help eliminate the infrastructure bottlenecks that can leave valuable compute sitting idle,” said Craig Tavares, President & COO, BUZZ High Performance Computing.

The agreement give sHypertec a growing foothold in the global storage market. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Enterprise Storage Systems Tracker found that external enterprise storage revenue grew 22.7% year-over-year to US$9.2 billion in the firstquarter of 2026 — its strongest growth in years — with all-flash systems crossing 50% of revenue for the first time, as organizations rebuild their data infrastructure for AI training and inference (IDC, June 2026).

For Hypertec, the BUZZHPC deployment is an early, concrete example of that opportunity translating into Montréal manufacturing volume.

The systems will bemarketed to AI cloud providers, hyperscalers, financial institutions, research organizations and enterprises operating large AI and HPC environments.

More broadly, the agreement adds a new VAST-certified data infrastructure product line to arapidly expanding manufacturing platform that also includes NVIDIA-certified AIservers — increasing what Hypertec can build in Canada and sell into AI infrastructure markets internationally.

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, financia lservices, healthcare, public sectors and others, Hypertec serves clients inover 80 countries and empowers them to push boundaries and lead their industries through transformative technology.

For more information, visit hypertec.com.

About VAST Data

VAST Data is the AI Operating System company – powering the next generation of intelligent systems with a unified software infrastructure stack that was purpose-built to unlock the full potential of AI. The VAST AI OS consolidates foundational data and compute services and agentic execution into one scalable platform, enabling organizations to deploy and facilitate communication between AI agents, reason over real-time data, and automate complex workflows at global scale.

For more information,visit vastdata.com.

 About BUZZ HPC

BUZZ High Performance Computing Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd., is Canada’s leading sovereign AI cloud provider, delivering enterprise GPU infrastructure, AI cloud services and high-performance computing solutions. BUZZ designs, builds and operates advanced AI infrastructure powered by renewable energy, enabling enterprises, AI companies, governments, research institutions and innovators to train, fine-tune and deploy advanced AI models at scale.

By combining purpose-built AI factories, high-performance networking and enterprise cloud technologies, BUZZ is building the digital infrastructure that powers the next generation of artificial intelligence.

For more information,visit buzzhpc.ai.

About Bell

Bell is Canada's largest communications company, 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, pleasevisit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

‍Media Contact

André Lamarre

Executive Vice-President, Public Affairs & Government Relations

Canada: 514.207.1897 | USA: 480.646.6758

andre.lamarre@hypertec.com

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