Genius Group Pivots From Edtech to AI Data Centers With 100MW Plan

NYSE-listed education software firm Genius Group has launched a data center subsidiary targeting an initial 100MW of AI compute — a figure it says could generate $1 billion in annual revenue — with a first project in Hanna, Alberta, announced this month.

The new wholly owned subsidiary, GENIUSpark, will build, own, and operate AI data centers through joint ventures with AI companies, data center operators, and power partners. Its long-term goal is 1GW of capacity globally, sited in countries with "low cost, accessible power together with high market demand and government support." Initial markets are Canada, Australia, and Indonesia.

How does the model work?

Each site will be sized at up to 9.9MW. Genius Group says that scale is deliberate. Sites this size can be approved and powered in months rather than years, yet each one can potentially generate more than $100 million in annual revenue. The sites will offer colocation, compute, and inference capacity to enterprise, platform, and education customers.

The model bundles a community element into each project. Every site includes local skills programs and donations to a local community fund.

Founder and CEO Roger James Hamilton said: "Every site we build trains local students and workers for the jobs AI creates, and returns 10 percent of its profits to the town that hosts it. We are building GENIUSpark to be the partner of choice for AI companies and data center operators that want to grow with the support of the communities they serve."

Hamilton added that the model combines "local reskilling, education and a local AI treasury that makes every community stakeholder."

What does the Alberta project involve?

In a follow-up announcement, Genius Group said it will partner with mobile services firm FingerMotion and behind-the-meter power provider BlueFlare on a 2.4MW data center on a 20-acre site in Hanna, Alberta.

The ownership and power details:

• Genius Group holds a 49 percent stake in the joint venture; FingerMotion holds 51 percent of the initial issued share capital.
• The first 3MW of grid-connected capacity will power approximately 432 GPU servers.
• The partners have the option to add up to 3MW of BlueFlare's behind-the-meter natural gas generation.
• Construction is planned to begin in December 2026, with first compute targeted for the second quarter of 2027.

Suraj Naik, head of AI at Genius Group, said: "AI is moving from training to inference, and inference needs to run close to the people and businesses that use it. Data residency rules and the need for low latency are pushing compute out of a handful of mega campuses and into local sites." He confirmed that Genius Group's own Genius OS platform will be one of the first customers on GENIUSpark compute.

Hamilton said: "FingerMotion and BlueFlare have the power, site-development and construction capability. Genius Group has the community reskilling and treasury model that directly benefits the local community."

FingerMotion, a Chinese mobile services firm, announced its own pivot to AI data centers over the summer. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BlueFlare Energy Solutions to convert a 600kW gas-powered behind-the-meter cryptomine facility in Alberta into an AI inference site.

FingerMotion CEO Jolie Kahn said: "GENIUSpark Alberta takes FingerMotion beyond powered land into owning the compute that runs on it. Hanna is the first step in what we believe can become one of Alberta's leading high-performance computing platforms."

Is this pivot unusual?

Not particularly. Genius Group joins a crowded field of companies attempting similar turns toward AI infrastructure. Last week, insurance tech firm Reliance Global Group announced plans to buy an unnamed GPU cloud provider as part of a major change in direction. Former shoe company Allbirds rebranded as Smartbird for the same reason. Other recent entrants include a Taiwanese whiskey importer, a recruitment website, a Singaporean healthcare company, an Indian TV production firm, a Chinese car loan financing company, an aviation operator, a Malaysian Hard Rock Cafe franchise owner, and an Indonesian eCommerce software firm.

Genius Group has roots going back to 2002 and went public in 2022. The company says its edtech platform has delivered training to more than six million students. It also operates physical education centers and has previously invested in cryptocurrency initiatives.