Bell partners with AI company Cohere in latest step to grow tech service offerings
Cohere will make its AI services available through Bell AI Fabric, a project announced by Bell in May to support Canadian businesses' and governments' AI needs.
Bell AI Fabric will incorporate Cohere's agentic AI platform North, which will be available to government and enterprise customers, enabling them to create AI agents and automation solutions without having to manage AI infrastructure.
Bell AI Fabric will also include six AI data centres, along with software infrastructure such as Cohere's large language models 'customized for Bell to offer unique capabilities for the Canadian market, machine learning and cloud software.'
It says all elements are 'underpinned by leading cybersecurity protections combining physical security, network security, and operational resilience.'
The Montreal-based telecom company says Bell AI Fabric also relies on its new tech services brand Ateko, which is a cornerstone of its ambition to build a $1-billion tech services business.
Monday Mornings
The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
The Best Growth Stocks I'd Buy Right Now
Key Points Intuitive Surgical continues to lead the way in robotic surgical instruments. Restaurant chain Cava Group is making strides where some rivals are faltering. 10 stocks we like better than Intuitive Surgical › If you're a growth-oriented investor like me, you've probably seen your portfolio experience its fair share of ups and downs the last few years. While the market has rebounded to new heights and many growth businesses have recovered spectacularly, results have varied by individual stock. As always, it's important to look beyond a stock's price and see what's happening behind the scenes. A share price may be up or down for a good reason, but you need to understand the factors driving these movements before you hit the buy button. On that note, here are two top growth stocks to consider if you have cash to invest right now. 1. Intuitive Surgical Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) has been known for its pioneering role in robotic-assisted surgery with the da Vinci surgical system since its first platform was approved more than two decades ago. The da Vinci system provides surgeons with enhanced dexterity, precision, and control during minimally invasive procedures including thoracic, gynecologic, and general surgeries. These systems allow for a wider range of motion than the human hand and wrist, translating surgeon movements into precise instrument actions within a patient's body. This is particularly helpful for complex procedures in confined spaces, but can also improve surgery outcomes, shorten recovery time, and reduce the risk of adverse complications. Intuitive Surgical's revenue comes from three different sources: system sales, instruments and accessories, and services. What might be surprising is that Intuitive's most significant revenue stream is selling instruments and accessories such as forceps, scissors, scalpels, drapes, and vision products. Once a da Vinci system is installed in a hospital, each surgery performed using that system requires these specialized instruments and accessories, many of which are single-use or need to be replaced after a set number of uses. Of course, as systems can cost $1 million or more apiece, one-time sales, as well as usage-based or lease-type sales of systems, are a key driver of revenue. Finally, the services business encompasses the comprehensive support provided to customers, including installation, maintenance, and repair of surgical systems. Intuitive typically includes service contracts with the initial sale of a da Vinci system, providing ongoing revenue through annual fees. These contracts can vary in price depending on the system configuration and the scope of services included. The company's new da Vinci 5 platform is now broadly available in the U.S., and limited launches are starting in Europe and Japan after receiving the necessary regulatory clearances. The da Vinci 5 system has been well-received so far, with over 100,000 procedures already performed since its initial approval in the U.S. in early 2024. Intuitive Surgical's revenue growth for the first half of 2025 totaled $4.69 billion, a healthy 20% increase from the $3.9 billion it reported in the first half of 2024. Net income for the first six months of 2025 came to $1.4 billion, up 27% on a year-over-year basis. And the average consensus 12-month price target from analysts suggests a potential upside of approximately 20% from current share prices. If you're a long-term investor who wants a piece of the action of a top-notch healthcare stock, definitely consider Intuitive Surgical. 2. Cava Group Cava Group (NYSE: CAVA) is a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain that offers customizable bowls, salads, and pitas with a focus on fresh, healthy ingredients. The company also produces and sells a line of Mediterranean dips, spreads, and dressings available in grocery stores. Cava has been a standout example of a fast-casual restaurant that's expanding gradually and strategically without sacrificing its financial health. In fact, Cava's financials keep looking better and better. Revenue reached $329 million in the first quarter of its fiscal 2025, a 28% increase compared to the same period last year. Same-store sales also increased by 10.8% in Q1, while Cava opened 15 new restaurants in the three-month period alone. That rate of expansion brought its restaurant total to 382 locations across 26 states and the District of Columbia. The company is also building a consistent track record of profitability. Its Q1 net income of nearly $26 million was almost double that of the previous year. And Cava is targeting 1,000 restaurants by 2032, a significant expansion of its current footprint. Importantly, restaurant-level profit of $82.3 million was up 27.4% in Q1 on a year-over-year basis, and restaurant-level profit margin was 25.1%. These are impressive figures for a fast-casual restaurant that's still in the relatively early stages of its growth story. Cava has shown resilience in navigating macroeconomic headwinds by focusing on strategic pricing, guest engagement, and operational excellence. The restaurant stock seems to be resonating with consumers, providing a strong value proposition in a sector of the restaurant industry that's highly competitive and fragmented. If you have the risk appetite to invest in a business operating in a more cyclical consumer-facing space, Cava looks like a quality buy to consider right now. Should you invest $1,000 in Intuitive Surgical right now? Before you buy stock in Intuitive Surgical, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Intuitive Surgical wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $624,823!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,064,820!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,019% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 178% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 29, 2025
Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
GUNTER: Trudeau cost Canada a chance to get into global LNG game — Trump and U.S. are reaping the benefit
President Donald Trump reads from a paper and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen listens after reaching a trade deal between the U.S. and the EU at the Trump Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland Sunday, July 27, 2025. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / AP Last Sunday, at President Donald Trump's golf resort in Scotland (a.k.a. King Donald's summer palace), Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union pledged European countries would buy US$750 billion (over $1 trillion Canadian) of U.S. energy – largely LNG – over the next three years in return for Trump promising to impose only 15% tariffs on the union's member states. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Boy, those American and European trade negotiators must be dunces. Don't they know that three years ago, then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a special trip to Canada to ask our government to sell tens of billions in LNG to his country? Our economic genius of a prime minister, Justin Trudeau rejected Scholz's request because 'there is no business case' for selling LNG to Europe. The Germans almost immediately turned around and signed a 15-year agreement with Qatar for about $1.5 billion a year in LNG from that Gulf state. This past Thursday, the South Koreans made a similar deal with the U.S. — $100 billion (about $138 billion Canadian) in energy over four years, primarily LNG. What's wrong with these countries? Can they not see that the greatest economic mind of the 21st Century, Justin Pierre James Trudeau, had decreed it was foolhardy to sign such agreements? Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The U.S. deals with the EU and Korea just for LNG are worth about $800 billion Canadian over the next four years. The rest of the sales are for oil and nuclear fuels. A good part of that market might have been Canada's had we not been ruled by a 'green' dreamweaver and eco-cultist who prevented this country from jumping into the world LNG market early in the game. Now the Americans have sucked up a lot of the oxygen in the room, and it will be hard for Canada to get a foothold, even if current Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney gets off his duff and agrees to more pipelines and LNG ports. Trudeau's thinking (which remains Carney's thinking until the current Liberal government does more than just talk a good game) cost Canada at least $400 billion in investment during the Trudeau decade, drove down our per capita income, dropped us out of the 25 richest countries in the world, distorted our housing market and drove up prices and unemployment. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Even after the change in prime ministers this year, the OECD still projects Canada will have the lowest level of economic growth of any developed country in the world for at least the next 20 years, because we just can't bring ourselves to do the tough work of becoming an energy superpower. Do you have any idea how much government revenue could be generated from $400 billion? At least $100 billion in corporate taxes and energy royalties. And that doesn't include more income tax collected from more Canadians working at higher-paying jobs. I was being facetious above, of course, when I said Trudeau was an economic genius. I would list him and the economic devastation he wrought as the worst government this country has ever had. He and his woke, 'green' obsessed cabinet dug a huge pit and threw us in it. (Then he trotted off to a Katy Perry concert and date.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Mark Carney may sound and look more competent than Trudeau, but is he? Just about half of his cabinet were ministers in Trudeau's cabinet and were just as obsessed as Justin with combatting climate change and shutting down oil and gas. They voted in lockstep with Trudeau for the emission caps, harsh eco regulations, EV mandate, net-zero power grid and opposition to resource development and pipelines. Carney himself spent the better part of a decade, before becoming P.M., acting as the U.N.'s ambassador on 'green' investing (even though in his own portfolio he retained millions of shares in oil companies). He also frequently advocated leaving most of today's proven oil and gas reserves in the ground. Count me skeptical that this leopard has changed his spots. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here. You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun. Toronto Blue Jays Homes Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Columnists
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Companies taking concrete steps toward capturing revenues from carbon dioxide
It can be used to make fuel, fertilizer, building material and even soap, but can carbon dioxide be a money maker, too? Carbon capture has long been a focus of emissions reduction efforts in Canada. It involves collecting the climate-warming gas from industrial sites and preventing it from entering the atmosphere, most often by stowing it away permanently underground. Less common has been capturing CO2 and making it into something useful. 'Carbon utilization does not have a big history. It's relatively nascent,' said Apoorv Sinha, chief executive of Carbon Upcycling. The Calgary-based company combines industrial waste products with carbon dioxide to make a cement-like product that can be used in concrete foundations and sidewalks. 'Canada actually punches well above its weight in carbon-to-value across the building material sector, even in carbon chemicals.' Story continues below advertisement Storing carbon has been the automatic go-to as industry has a wealth of experience doing it at a large scale, said David Sanguinetti, interim CEO at cleantech incubator Foresight Canada. While carbon utilization has the benefit of generating direct revenues from usable products, the economics are uncertain in a lot of cases, he said. 'It's either niche or not great right now with the current state of technology,' he said. 'If you don't have a price on carbon, then a lot of the current concepts that are out there, which are technically feasible — people have done it in the lab, they've proven it out — there isn't an economic driver to make it happen.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The Canadian Gas Association commissioned a report from Foresight Canada last year into the carbon utilization market, which concluded that storing carbon from large industrial emitters is likely to beat out using it — at least for the time being. Foresight sees southwestern Ontario being a good spot for carbon utilization to take root as there are clusters of large emitters and innovation hubs, but little in the way of infrastructure for underground storage like Alberta has. CO2 utilization falls into two categories — direct use or conversion. Direct use includes the long-standing practice of injecting the gas into mature oilfields to draw more barrels to the surface. Story continues below advertisement With conversion, the chemical makeup of the gas is altered to make products like aviation fuel and fertilizer. At a smaller scale, Calgary-based CleanO2 captures the gas from building heating systems and turns it into pearl ash used in its hand soap, shampoo and other products. One of the more promising applications has been using the gas in building materials so it's trapped permanently. Last week, Carbon Upcycling held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga, Ont., where work on a commercial demonstration project is underway. Production is to begin next spring. CarbiCrete, based in Montreal, has developed technology for greener precast masonry and hardscapes — think concrete blocks, retaining walls and paving stones that can be sent to a construction site, not the ready-mix stuff churning in a truck's drum. Concrete is traditionally made up of cement, aggregate like rocks or gravel, and water. 'It's the most abundant manmade substance on the planet,' said Yuri Mytko, CarbiCrete's chief marketing officer. 'But cement has traditionally been the key ingredient and cement is hugely problematic in that it accounts for about eight per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.' CarbiCrete uses steelmaking slag instead of cement, and cures it in a chamber with CO2 instead of applying heat and steam. Story continues below advertisement 'You're left with a concrete product that has the same properties as cement-based concrete, except with none of the emissions associated with it and also with carbon having been permanently mineralized and removed from the atmosphere,' said Mytko. CarbiCrete licenses its technology to concrete product makers and helps them retrofit their plants. Dave Sawyer, principal economist at the Canadian Climate Institute said utilization can work by helping companies generate credits to sell, but it's a relatively small piece of the emissions-reduction picture. Carbon capture, utilization and storage in general has been painted by business and industry as 'one big silver bullet technology,' he said, but there are other emissions-busting approaches that should be getting more attention. For example, sodium ion batteries may be just as technically feasible as carbon capture, utilization and storage — and maybe cheaper. 'But we just keep going to this big lumpy thing … that is really cost prohibitive.' Sinha said carbon utilization gets a fraction of the support and resources of traditional storage projects, whose technology has been around for decades. 'What needs to happen is more support and a larger focus towards deploying these technologies quickly and testing them out. Because right now, just the amount of data — how to build these facilities, how to operate them — very little of it exists.'
