Telus, Fortanix roll out confidential AI product

Executive Summary

• Telus Corp. and Fortanix have jointly released a new confidential AI solution designed to enable organizations to train and deploy AI on sensitive data while maintaining cryptographic proof that the data remains securely within Canadian jurisdiction.
• The solution leverages state-of-the-art Nvidia infrastructure at the Telus Sovereign AI Factory, utilizing confidential computing technology to encrypt sensitive data even during active processing (training, fine-tuning, and inference).
• The partnership targets regulated sectors such as healthcare, finance, and government, providing an auditable, verifiable record of protection to address compliance and privacy concerns associated with AI deployment.

Key Details

• Partnership: Joint solution developed by Telus Corp. and Fortanix (a leader in confidential computing security).
• Infrastructure: Built on Nvidia confidential computing infrastructure located at the Telus Sovereign AI Factory.
• Technology: Utilizes "confidential computing" to apply advanced encryption to AI workloads, ensuring data remains encrypted while being actively processed.
• Security Mechanism: Employs cryptographic attestation and secure key releases to establish a verifiable chain of trust.
• Verification Process: Before sensitive data is decrypted, the solution performs cryptographic verification of the trusted execution environment using Nvidia confidential computing attestation services to confirm hardware genuineness and security. Encryption keys are released only upon successful verification; if the check fails, data remains locked.
• Target Sectors: Specifically designed for regulated industries including healthcare, finance, government, and other sectors where sensitive data exposure risks hamper innovation.
• Availability: The solution is available through the Telus Sovereign AI Factory, with Fortanix providing verified attestation and attestation-gated secure key release.
• Announcement Context: Announced at Nvidia GTC 2026 in San Jose.

Notable Quotes

• Hesham Fahmy, Chief Information Officer, Telus: "Telus has built Canada's first fully sovereign AI infrastructure so that researchers, start-ups, enterprises and public institutions no longer have to choose between protecting their data and unlocking the transformative benefits of AI... This latest innovation with Fortanix and Nvidia adds a critical, final security layer to protect data while it is actively being processed."
• Anuj Jaiswal, Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Fortanix: "Trust is not implicit -- it must be proven... By combining this with Telus's sovereign infrastructure, organizations can deploy AI on their most sensitive data with cryptographic proof of protection, all on Canadian soil."